The Gift of Innocence
by vellaky
Summary: [AU] One of the girls will soon find themselves looking at things through a child's perspective,leaving the sisters one short of the Po3. Who makes a surprise return? Full Summary Inside. Is now COMPLETE! R
1. general info

_**General Background Info…**_

Piper (33) married to Leo – 2children, Wyatt Matthew Halliwell (7), Chris Halliwell (6).

Phoebe (30) single mother – 1child, Prestyn Nichole Halliwell (5) Cole is the father, Cole is dead.

Paige (28) dating Glenn – no children.

_**Powers…**_

Piper – speeding up molecules (blowing up) and slowing molecules down (freezing).

Wyatt – force field and orbing.

Chris – orbing.

Phoebe – premonitions, and levitation.

Prestyn – blitzing (The ability to establish a mind link with someone through the hands and electrocute and thus destroying the person's mind) and shimmering.

Paige – Telekinetic-orbing, healing, and orbing.

**Author's Note: **Blitzing isn't activated yet (right until the end) as it is too strong for her to handle

The kids that have White Lighter genes, (i.e. Wyatt, Chris) have the white lighter powers, which include, orbing, healing and sensing. I didn't add it because it would look as though there are too many powers for them.

Any other general questions, just post them up on the review page, although i am not sure how to respond, so if anyone can tell me how to do that?

By the way there isn't really a set season because if there was, nothing would make sense… so enough with the babbling and on with the story… or the summary first and then the story.


	2. real summary

We all know that life for the Charmed Ones is difficult, confusing and hard, but is it bad enough to send one of the Charmed Ones over the edge? One of the adults will soon find themselves looking at things through a child's perspective, quite literally, leaving the sisters one short of the Power of Three! Guess who makes a surprise return? One word, starts with a "C". Read on to find out more, and please don't forget to R&R…


	3. 1: The interuption

**Greetings aliens! (oops wrong meeting lol)**

**Anyways, this is going to be part of one of a sequal (with a one shot squeezed in between)... i am obliged (by law) to tell you that i own charmed and everything in its vicinity...**

**Actually, i only own Prestyn and this storyline (NOT CHARMED)which isquite a good storyline, if i do say so myself. Take the time read it and review it and i promise you won't be disappointed.**

**Cheers **

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_Chapter One_

Piper, Phoebe and Paige were settled at the kitchen table at six thirty in the morning – this was their only quiet time and bonding time. Quite pathetic when one thinks about it. Quiet time and bonding time shouldn't have to be squeezed in, it should just flow. But when you're a mother (which only applies to two), a sister, a wife (which applies to only one), and a witch, these things, one will find, don't flow as freely as one would like.

"How long do you think we have?" Piper mumbled, breaking the silence by referring to the kids, her hand cupping her chin as she leant on the table clutching a mug of coffee.

"Shh!" Phoebe hissed, her eyebrows furrowing in. "Don't you dare jinx it, Piper," she warned in a tired tone.

"They don't realize it now, but when they're older they will want nothing more then to sleep," Paige declared.

"For now, they think it's punishment," Piper stated.

"Who knew they'd have their orbing and shimmering ability down pat?" Paige rhetorically asked, referring to the fiasco of the night before.

When Piper walked into the conservatory where the kids were playing to tell them that it was bedtime, pretty blue and white sparkles and clear waves were going all over the house as Chris and Wyatt orbed, and Prestyn shimmered, desperately trying to avoid the dreaded 'bedtime'. It took a fake batch of cookies to get these kids into the same room, and once there, each sister took hold of a child and orbed or walked them up to their rooms.

The three children shared one room, at least for now. The girls would either have to look at renovating or look at moving. Demon activity was too strong for them to move now. Paige could orb back to the manor in no time, as she did quite often, as she practically lived with her boyfriend Glenn, but Phoebe would have no way of getting to the manor in the blink of an eye; she was not going to rely on her daughter to do it for her, and she was not going to leave Piper and her nephews by themselves while Paige orbed to get her either. So it looked like renovations were going to have to take place relatively soon.

It then took one story book and a made up story to get the kids to fall asleep; to which Paige happily agreed to do, foolishly overlooking the fact that these were kids. What should have taken a half an hour max. to do, took at least two hours as Paige was being bombarded by questions; some she could answer, some she could not, and some she had absolutely no clue what they were going on about. It took her fifteen minutes to locate a story that they would all like and almost a half an hour to decide on a topic for the made up story that they would all like! When Paige got back downstairs afterwards, all she could do was complain about how she was never having children; having a niece and two nephews was enough for her.

"That alone can be draining!" Phoebe said.

"Hey, you were only there for the orb and shimmer chase. You were not there for the 'whys' and the 'hows' and the 'whats' and 'whos' and the 'what ifs' and the –"

"Alright already," Phoebe groaned.

Piper giggled a little.

"I might go and check on them, and see how they're sleeping…"

"If they _are_ asleep," Piper said.

"_Momma_!" Prestyn cried.

Phoebe became suddenly alert. "Prestyn?" Phoebe got up and bolted out of the kitchen with her sisters following and ran straight into her daughter and nephews. She scooped her daughter up into her arms. "Shh, it's okay baby," Phoebe soothed stroking her daughter's hair. "What happened?" Phoebe asked Wyatt.

"I don't know. We got up when Prestyn screamed out for you," he answered sleepily, trying to stifle a yawn.

"Chris honey, what about you?" Piper asked.

"We were all still sleepin'."

"Prestyn, was it a bad dream?" Piper asked, gently.

Prestyn only became more hysterical.

"I have this, Piper, its okay." She walked with her daughter into her room.

Piper sighed, not knowing what else she could do for her sister and niece. "Come on boys, let's go and make you some breakfast."

"Are they going to be okay, mommy?" Chris asked speaking slowly and carefully so as to get his words right. When he spoke fast his words would come out in the wrong order, or he would get tongue tied.

"They're going to be fine, sweetie," she answered as the four of them made their way into the kitchen.

"If they're going to be fine, then why was Prestyn crying, and why was Aunt Phoebe scared?" Wyatt questioned, eying his mother and Aunt carefully. Piper walked over to the cupboard and pulled out two bowls and two different cereals.

Wyatt and Chris had both witnessed a lot growing up, Prestyn was lucky enough not to have witnessed anything like demons or the emotions running high as Leo would always take her and her cousins over to magic school in the cause of an event. To Prestyn, shimmering and orbing were part of the norm. Wyatt new better than to trust anything said by someone over his own instincts.

"Because we thought something had happened to the three of you, so we got scared." Piper placed a bowl each in front of her sons. Chris got straight into it, but Wyatt? Not Wyatt…

"What about Prestyn?" Wyatt folded his arms over his little chest.

"Uncross those arms, mister," Piper gently warned. Wyatt did as he was told. "Prestyn had a bad dream."

"How do you know? You weren't there."

"Eat your cereal Wyatt."

"Yeah, eat your cereal, Wyatt…" Chris teased.

"Chris," Piper warned.

"So how do you know if it was a bad dream when you weren't even there?"

Piper eyed her sister. A silent plea to help her out of this one.

"Because children have different sounds in their voices when something is the matter," Paige answered.

Wyatt looked at his Aunt in confusion. "Does that answer your question?" Wyatt continued to stare.

"Wyatt, you've been asked a question," Piper prodded her son.

"Yes ma'am." He started eating his cereal. Chris couldn't help but snigger.

"That's not nice Chris," Paige said.

"No it is not. But it is funny!" A big smile lit his face and Paige couldn't help but smile back.

"Paige."

"Why am I getting the warning voice?"

"You know why."

"But they're cute Piper, how can I not smile and laugh?"

Piper shook her head and rolled her eyes. At this moment she felt like she was dealing with three children rather than two.

"Can you keep an eye on these two for me for a few minutes?"

"Sure."

"Where are you going?" Wyatt asked. He liked to keep a watchful eye on his mother – on the rest of the family too, but mainly his mother – since Leo could not be around that much due to his Elderly duty, Wyatt felt he needed to.

"I'm going to check on your Aunt Phoebe and Prestyn, Officer Wyatt, is that okay?"

"Okay, but be careful of demons mommy."

"I will, I promise."

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**Tell me whether it is up to your standards by pushing that button dudes :)**


	4. 2: dreaming

_**Chapter two**_

It was eight o' clock that same morning and Chris and Wyatt were settled in the conservatory playing while the Charmed Ones were settled at the kitchen table once again; Prestyn had fallen asleep upstairs. "Phoebs, do you want to tell us what's on your mind?" Piper asked. "You didn't say anything upstairs apart from 'she's fine'."

"She _is_ fine," Phoebe half snapped.

"But are you?" Paige countered.

"Yep."

"You know better then to lie within this family and this household. Whatever it is Phoebe, you can tell us," Piper coaxed.

Phoebe sighed, giving in. "Prestyn had a really horrible dream…"

"And her dream is affecting you because..?" Paige led on.

"Because I was killed in her dream… by Cole."

"How does she even know who Cole is?"

"She pointed to the picture I have of him and me on my dresser drawer and said 'that man'."

"Well Phoebe honey, Cole is dead and it was just a dream," Piper assured.

Phoebe looked away from Piper and sighed.

"What? Phoebe what is it?"

"What if it was a premonition?"

"That's impossible Phoebe, that's a power, that's _your_ power."

"What five year old dreams of their father killing their mother demonically, Piper?" Phoebe snapped.

"He is dead Phoebe. Cole is _dead_."

"He's come back before. Demons that we've already vanquished have come back again! Who's to say he won't?"

"Phoebe –" Piper was cut off by her littlest sister who had kicked her under the table. Piper less then subtly tended to her leg.

Paige took over. "Phoebe, honey, we understand your concerns, but we have nothing to go on."

"We have everything to go on!" Phoebe snapped, near tears.

"Honey we don't even know if Prestyn has another power; and even if she did she couldn't possibly have premonitions because you have premonitions. Two witches cannot have the same power in the same time zone," Paige educated.

Phoebe paused and thought. Piper breathed a sigh of relief.

"So why the hell else would she have had that dream!" she all but yelled.

Halliwell manor went silent.

"Momma?" Prestyn stood in the door way holding her pink and purple blankie, that had once belonged to her mother, close to her. She hugged it tight. All eyes went to Prestyn. Phoebe's face went from angry to happy in order to make her daughter see that everything was alright.

"What's the matter baby?"

"Why is everyone cranky? Am I getting a time out because I had a not nice dream?"

Phoebe got up and walked over to her only child and squatted down so she was eye level with her. "No baby. You're not the boss of your dreams."

"So I didn't do something naughty?"

"No baby, it wasn't your fault. No time out for you."

Prestyn sighed. "Momma is the bad man gonna hurt you?"

Phoebe hesitated. "Hey, I think the boys want you. Why don't you go down into the conservatory? They were very worried about you."

"Okay."

"And don't you worry baby. You're gonna be okay, okay?" Prestyn nodded her head with a smile and scampered off into the conservatory to play with Wyatt and Chris.

"You're going to be okay too, Phoebe," Paige assured.

"We don't know that for sure, and I am _not_ going to lie to my little girl and tell her I'm going to be fine if I don't even know that."

"It's okay Aunt Phoebe, I'll protect you. I'll put up my force field and keep you safe in it until mom and Aunt Paige vanquish the bad man," Wyatt stated. As if it was the easiest thing in the world to do.

"Well thank you sweet boy, but I will need you to protect Prestyn for me – and Chris too. So if something happens, you need to put up that force field and keep Chris, Prestyn and yourself safe. You got that?" Wyatt nodded. "Good boy. Come here and give me a hug." Wyatt raced over to his aunt and jumped into her arms, throwing his own arms around her neck. She held him for a few seconds, before putting him down and letting him go back to his brother and his cousin. Phoebe looked at her sisters. "It's not safe to talk here, and it is not safe for them. Prestyn said we were at the manor when it happened. We need to call Leo and tell him to take them to magic school."

There was a beat of silence before Piper broke it. "Phoebe look at me,"she started. Phoebe walked over to the opening of the conservatory and watched the children play. "Phoebe," Piper spoke again. Piper sighed and got up to walk over to her younger sister. She put both hands on her shoulders and gently turned her around. "Honey we've been up against Cole four times before and we've won, and you've had many a vision where one of us or all of us dies, and we've not let that happen. What makes this different?"

"I've never had a child to protect before this Piper. If anything happens to her –"

"_Nothing_ will happen to her, _or_ you."

"Phoebe, we don't know if Prestyn has premonitions, don't you think you may be worried about nothing at all?" Paige questioned.

"Can we really take that chance? Based on our Cole history? The guy won't die! And now his coming after me," her voice was low and saddened.

"Phoebe, honey, is there anything we don't know?" Piper asked, concern evident. Her eyebrows furrowed in with confusion.

"Like what?"

"Is Cole alive?"

"According to Prestyn's dream he is."

"Now you're calling it a dream?" Paige asked.

Phoebe sighed. "I don't know what I'm calling it now…" Phoebe sounded tired.

"So maybe we should call in someone who knows what's going on in our family, witch wise…" Piper led on.

"Leo!" The Charmed Ones called. Blue and white lights filled the kitchen, and Leo evolved from them. He walked over and gave Piper a quick peck on the lips; he knew something was up.

"You can go and say hi to your kids, Leo. I won't deprive you of that just because something important is up," Phoebe told him. "But while you're at it, do you think maybe you can take them all to magic school?" Leo nodded and walked into the conservatory.

"Everything'll be okay, Phoebs," Paige assured, putting a hand on her sister's back and rubbing it for comfort. "I'm sure it's just a dream, but if not, then we will do what we have to do to send his ass back to wherever it is he came from."

Prestyn came running out of the conservatory and ran straight to Phoebe with Chris, Wyatt and Leo following.

"I don't wanna go!" Prestyn screamed. "I wanna stay here wif you!" She clung on to her mother for dear life. "Why do I have to go?"

"Yeah… why do we have to go to stupid magic school all the time?" Chris asked kicking the air down at the ground.

"Chris," Piper warned.

"Baby, it's only for a little while –"

"You said no time out." Prestyn started to cry repeating those words over and over, and Phoebe felt tears of her own starting to form. She gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek and gave her a tight squeeze, then gave her to Leo.

"Get her and the boys out of here Leo." Leo did as he was told. Phoebe wiped her tears away and sighed. "Call me when he comes back." She walked upstairs to her room and slammed the door shut.


	5. 3: the truth

_**Chapter three**_

"I've never seen Phoebe so defeated before," Paige let out.

"She's scared for Prestyn, Paige. She doesn't want anything to happen to her." The girls were still seated at the kitchen table - each at an end.

"Nothing will happen to any of us Piper, it was a dream."

"But Phoebe's right. What five year old dreams of a man killing her mother demonically? She's never seen Cole before in her life apart from the one photo that Phoebe has. I mean she doesn't even know that he is her father, and she is dreaming about him killing her mother. Put it all together, and Phoebe may just be right."

Leo orbed back into the manor at that point.

"I'll go get her," Paige offered.

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"Phoebe?" Paige knocked and opened the door. Phoebe was hovering over a duffel bag with a few items of clothing in her hand. "Are you going somewhere?" Paige asked.

"I can't take the risk Paige. If I were childless I'd be all for the fighting of the good fight, but I have a child and I have to protect her with everything I have. I can't let him take her and I can't leave her without a mother." She was moving between wardrobe and bag and it was making Paige dizzy. Paige walked further into the room and sat down on the bed, bringing Phoebe down with her.

"Look at me." Phoebe kept packing the clothes into the bag. "Damn it, I mean it Phoebe, look at me." Paige's voice was getting stern, and she hated having to do that, but this was necessary and big. Phoebe did as she was told. "This," she started, picking up the bag to prove her point, "Is not the way to go about it whether you have a child or not. The best thing to do for Prestyn is to stay and fight."

"How is that the best thing to do for Prestyn?" Phoebe snapped.

"How is running away going to be the best thing for her? If you move away for a little while, and Cole finds you, how are you gonna vanquish him without the power of three? You wouldn't have to worry about Prestyn being parentless because she'd be next after you!"

"We're more of a target here, Paige. He'll know to come straight to the manor. If we move away, it buys us a little more time."

"A little more time for what?"

"To plan our next move."

"So we're going to have a sister who is spending her life on the run from a demon? We'll never see you again, Phoebe. I'm sorry, but this," she again picked up the bag, "Is not an option. You need to stay here so if he does come, we can vanquish him first shot."

"What if we don't get him first go?" Phoebe asked. Paige was beginning to feel her big sister give in.

"What if we _do_?" Paige began to mellow out. "If you stay here, we have a better chance at killing him because we have the power of three. If you run away he'll never die because we'll have the power of two in San Francisco and the power of one in wherever the hell you plan on going and he will _never_ die, which means Prestyn is at more risk."

"How am I going to keep her safe here?"

"Hello! Magic school isn't a leave your kids here for an hour and take them back. If worse comes to worse, we can leave them with Elders."

"They won't take Prestyn. She's half demon too remember?"

"Well if they want her to stay as much a witch as possible, they'll take her. Phoebe I'm telling you, I'm so close to having that binding potion complete. I just need to work out a few of the kinks and she is scaled down from half witch half demon, to full witch. But you need to stay in order for this all to happen."

"If we don't get him first go Paige –"

"Then you can do the necessary; but I'm telling you, we will get him first shot." Paige grabbed hold of Phoebe's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "I promise."

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Paige and Phoebe walked down the stairs with Paige's arm slung around her sister's shoulders.

"What took?" Piper asked.

"Phoebe got a little into panic mode, but it's okay now, right Phoebs?"

"Right."

"Well speaking of being right…" Piper began. "Phoebe, you were right. Prestyn had a premonition…"

"I can see it in your eyes, Piper. There's a 'but' in there somewhere."

Leo took over. "But it isn't a power of hers."

"What do you mean?"

Leo sighed. Phoebe was not going to like the news. "The Elders sent it to her because they were afraid that if they sent it to you, you would keep it to yourself."

Phoebe's face began turning pink with anger. "You did _what_!" She screamed, making Piper and Paige jump.

"Phoebe_ they_ did it, not me."

"You're an Elder Leo, that makes _you_ part of the _them_! How could you even let them think of doing it? Are you nuts? Are they? You let them send a premonition to a _baby_ of her father _killing_ her mother! Demonically no less! She is now petrified of leaving me alone, and it is going to be hell for her to get to sleep now, not only because of what you sent her, but because she is gonna be scared that when she wakes up, she might not have a mother! How dare you!"

Leo did not know what to say.

"I agree, Leo," Paige said in a quieter tone that that of Phoebe. "She's just a child. How could you let them send such a thing to a five year old?"

"I _did_ say something!" Leo snapped, happy that he could finally get a word in edgeways. "They said that I was too attached because you were my family, and they wouldn't take anything I said into consideration."

"You could have warned us," Phoebe said, her voice quivering. "You could have intercepted it somehow –"

"They're my bosses Phoebe. I can't go against them."

"We're your family!" She screamed. "All of us! Through marriage or no! We're also your charges; you're supposed to look out for us. We come first!" She took a breath to calm herself down.She continued in a quieter,yet pleading,voice."You would have done it for Chris or Wyatt, what makes Prestyn and me any different?"

"It was necessary. If it were anything not Cole related you would have gotten the message, but they didn't know whether you would have told your sisters or not, so they took the safer option," he answered as gently as he could.

"How sure were they that Phoebe would have told us even after Prestyn had the vision?" Piper finally stepped up.

"Pretty sure…"

"Right, so they still weren't a hundred per cent sure that she would tell us, and yet they still sent something vivid and horrible to a five year old?"

"Why couldn't you have just told us that Cole was back and he was after Phoebe?" Paige asked.

Leo couldn't provide an answer.

"The next time you want to get a message across to me, do so through me! _Not_ my little girl!" Phoebe told him through gritted teeth before walking out of the manor and slamming the front door shut.


	6. 4: the conference

**Me no own Charmed :(**

**Me own Prestyn and storyline :)**

**Me no own diary entry/poem/song :(**

**Me own final resultof diary entry and story :)**

**Simple enough?**

**The songs are random and cut and pasted to make one final result - Tina Arena 'Wasn't It Good?' Evanescence - 'Feilds of Innocence' and Lillian Axe - 'Innocence' (well most of that one is mine...) **

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_Chapter four_

_Wouldn't you know it? I've lost my courage isn't that funny? Me… lost for words. Not that it really matters, because I know you know and you would have told me yourself if you could._

_Remember the first time we met each other? You were in your world, and I was in mine. Breaking down the barriers we broke all the rules._

_And wasn't it good? Wasn't it fine? While I took for granted you took your time. Longing for love, how hard we tried… It's over now, that's understood, but wasn't it good?_

_So long together; two would-be lovers caring for flowers that just wouldn't grow. And in all of our tomorrows we'll have yesterdays and wasn't it good?_

_I still remember the world from the eyes of a child. Slowly those feelings were clouded by what I know now._

_Where has my heart gone? An uneven trade for the real world… I want to go back to believing in everything and knowing nothing at all._

_I still remember the sun. It was always warm on my back, but somehow it seems colder now._

_Where has my heart gone? Trapped in the eyes of a stranger… I want to go back to believing in everything and knowing nothing at all._

Phoebe put her pen down and clenched and opened her fist to get feeling back into it. She had been clenching her penso hard that her knuckles had turned white. After she had stormed out to the front of the house, she was soon in the company of Paige. Paige spoke, but Phoebe didn't register anything being said. She was too focused on the goings on at hand; _Cole, Prestyn, Death, Premonition to a child, what would happen if…_

All these thoughts needed to be expressed. She didn't want to speak about them, so she apologized to Paige and told her she wanted to be alone. She got up and walked to her room where she unlocked her draw, unlocked her journal and started writing in it. She worked best when her thoughts were in poetry form – everything flowed and came to her; it came a lot easier to her as she was often the one to come up with spells for her and her sisters.

Her journal was filled with so much emotion and passion since she first found out about being a witch. Her journal started out with her being happy about being a witch, but as each entry entered the small leather-bound book the happiness faded and the pages became filled with sorrow through love and loss, fear, anger, confusion. Her entries were still filled with passion and emotion, but they appeared repetitive and empty.

_Pure and white as the driven snow, **she** doesn't know…_

_The wicked ways of the world have not found her young, restless heart…She is blind to the darkness that surrounds her young innocent life …_

_Cool, cool innocence; how I yearn to have that back once again._

Phoebe shut her journal, locked it, put it in her drawer and locked that too. She then walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where Piper, Paige and Leo were seated.

"Areyou okay, honey?" Piper asked, concern evident.

"Let's recap shall we?" Phoebe countered in a low voice. "So, my daughter gets sent a premonition by the Elders of me dying at the hands of Cole; Cole is _back_ and after me and probably Prestyn, whom he's never met… is that giving you and idea of how I am?"

"Phoebe everything will be fine, Prestyn will be okay, nothing will happen to either of you," Leo assured.

Phoebe shot daggers at his direction. "I can't talk to you right now."

Leo sighed, got up and left the kitchen.

"Leo," Piper called after him. She got up too and walked out after him.

Phoebe grabbed Piper's arm as she began to walk past Phoebe, her dark brown eyes locking on to her big sister's soft brown ones. "I'm sorry Piper."

"It's not your fault Phoebs, but it's not Leo's either," Piper returned gently. She continued over to Leo.

Phoebe sat down at the table next to Paige. "I'm not overreacting am I? I have every reason to act the way that I am don't I?"

"Honey, you're not overreacting, you have every right to be mad…"

"But?"

"_But_ Leo said he tried, so I mean, maybe you're overreacting in that part of it."

"She's my baby girl, Paige. Anything that threatens her life is a huge thing to me… she's my world. She is my whole world Paige… if anything happens to her…" Phoebe couldn't continue. She was engulfed by tears. Paige moved over to her big sister and put a comforting arm around Phoebe's shoulders. She gave her a kiss on the forehead and a comforting squeeze.

After a few moments, when Paige felt Phoebe was calming down, Paige decided it was safe to talk again. "Phoebe honey, I can understand where you're coming from – but that premonition was about you, not Prestyn…"

Phoebe wiped away the hot stream of tears and took a deep breath. "Premonitions don't give the full scene… who's to say he won't go after Prestyn after he kills me?"

"_He won't_," Paige said sternly. "We won't let him do anything to harm that little girl… and we sure as hell won't let anything happen to you."

"Paige," Phoebe started, tears starting to form. "I don't care about what happens to me. I only care about my child." Phoebe stopped upon realization of what was just said. "I care about you and Piper too, but you guys can hold your own; she's a _baby_… I can't let anything happen to her. I'll sell my soul to Satan to make sure nothing happens to her…"

Piper cleared her throat in the doorway; sad and sorry to destroy the moment. "Leo's gone to get the kids. They're tired and antsy… sorry 'bout destroying the moment guys…"

"Sit down Piper," Phoebe began. Phoebe needed to make one thing clear to her sisters. She took a deep breath. "Cole is coming for me. If anything happens to me –"

"Phoebe I don't want to hear this," Piper told her younger sister.

"You _have_ to. If anything happens to me, I need you both to look after her and treat her as your own –"

"Phoebe –" Paige began.

"_Listen_!" She said sternly through gritted teeth. "I want you to really listen. This needs to be said because if something happens to me, someone needs to be there to fulfill the role that I couldn't. If something happens to me, I want the truth told to her. No lies and no sugar-coating. Guide her; teach her morals, rules and respect; be there for her as an aunt and a friend and support her in everything she chooses; punish her if she does something wrong and teach her about the craft – do everything I couldn't…" Phoebe trailed off as she noticed orbs come through the roof.

Each girl wiped away their tears and stayed in silence; until the silence was broken by the children. Wyatt and Chris made their way to Piper, while Prestyn made her way to Phoebe. Phoebe took her child into her lap. Prestyn cupped her mother's face and turned it towards her little one. "Momma, you been cryin'?"

"Yeah baby I have been."

"Why?" She asked in a small innocent voice that made Phoebe's eyes begin to tear again.

"Because I'm scared."

"Of the bad man?"

"Yeah baby, because of the bad man."

"I told you Aunt Phoebe, I'll protect you! _And_ Prestyn _and_ Chris!" Wyatt yelled.

"I can look after myself," Chris mumbled in a small voice.

Piper pulled her sons in and told them to hush in a stern yet gentle voice.

An awkward silence filled the manor. Leo broke it.

"I think it's time for all little people to get to bed, huh?" He suggested. Piper and Phoebe nodded.

Wyatt and Chris sighed as Leo ushered them up the stairs.

"No momma!" Prestyn screamed in a hoarse voice. "No! No bedtime! The bad man!" She was shaking her head rapidly, tears streaming down her face, her face red with emotion and her little hazel eyes filled with fear.

"The bad man is only in your dreams. He won't hurt you, he's not real," Phoebe could have choked on what came out of her mouth next, "I promise." Her stomach churned. "Come on. Off to bed little one. Uncle Leo's waiting." Prestyn sniffled and cried out a little more. She shuffled over to Leo like a puppy with its tail between its legs. She looked back over to her mother with fear, concern and sadness twisted into one emotion planted on her innocent five year old face.

"I... love... you momma," Prestyn said through heavy sobs.

"Baby, I love you too." She let tears of her own fall. She watched as her child walked up the stairs with her little hand in Leo's big hand; still sobbing.

Phoebe looked at her sisters. Piper's face was tear-streaked, with more tears forming, and Paige was fighting a losing battle with her emotions.

Between sobs, Phoebe revealed the one thing she _promised_ herself she would _never_ do. "I just lied to my little girl." She put her head in her hands and cried heart-breaking tears.


	7. 5: release

**Hi all... how you are enjoying my story so far... The reason why i havent been writing much to you all is because i am trying to fix up all the errors in the story and i keep forgetting to actually write to you all - so i dont hate you - in fact i love you all for reviewing! Keep reviewing; this will make me very happy.**

**For the record - i own charmed and am rolling in cash:)**

**Yeah no i don't. I only own the character of Prestyn **

**Read, Review and Enjoy!**

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_**Chapter five**_

It was late at night and Phoebe was still awake. She couldn't get the images of her daughter's petrified little face out of her head when she was told that it was bedtime; how afraid her daughter was. She had checked on Prestyn so many times since she had been put to bed and couldn't help but cringe at the promise she made her daughter before sleeping for it was one she had no control over. She watched as her daughter's innocent little face scrunched into terror every so often before finally allowing herself to overcome her dream and relax into her sleep.

Phoebe kept an ear out for her daughter and slept lightly – something which had become a part of her life five years ago since her daughter was born. Phoebe put her head on her pillow and closed her eyes, trying desperately to fall asleep and have a decent night's sleep so she would be able to fight whatever was ahead of her.

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An ear-piercing shriek echoed through Halliwell manor followed by crashing of furniture and thumping. It rang through Phoebe's ears. She threw the covers off the bed, leapt to her feet and bolted to the children's room where Piper and Paige already were. Piper was out cold and Paige was in battle with the intruder.

Phoebe felt herself paralyzed at the sight of the figure in the room. "Cole," she mumbled. Though her body had other plansshe ignored them andran and jumped on to his back to buy the kids some time. Cole dropped Paige after having her by the throat and she, too, was knocked unconscious. Cole flipped Phoebe over his head and then picked her up by the throat with a fireball at the ready. He threw her against the wall; she was semi-conscious. He heaved the fireball at Phoebe.

"_Momma!_" Prestyn screeched.

Cole stopped the fireball just inches away from Phoebe and turned to Wyatt who had his force-field up around Prestyn, Chris and himself.

"Let down the force-field you little shit, or I'll kill her! You really want a death on your conscience at your age?"

Scared out of hit wits, Wyatt began to let his guard down and lower the force-field when Phoebe stopped him.

"Wyatt, no! Keep it up!" Phoebe slurred.

"Let it down Wyatt or she's dead!" Cole yelled letting the fireball inch closer to Phoebe.

"Let it down Wyatt!" Prestyn screeched. Prestyn got set to run out of the force field but Chris pulled her back and kept a strong hold of her.

"You need to stay here! You're mommy will be safe!" Chris told her.

"Momma! Momma!" Prestyn cried fighting against Chris' grasp. "Put it down, Wyatt! Put it down!" Tears were running down her little face and terror was in her eyes at witnessing the event.

"Keep it up!" Phoebe cried.

Paige stirred and orbed over to the kids.

"Don't even think about it, Paige!" He hurled a fireball at Paige and stopped it inches away from her as well. "In case you hadn't noticed, I'm kind of in control here." Paige let her guard down. "That goes for you too, Piper. No funny stuff… not that it would work on me anyway – I'm pretty much immune to the three of you."

"You're here for me! What do you wantwith her?" Phoebe asked.

Cole chuckled. "You're not that dumb that you can't figure it out are you?" Phoebe remained silent and Cole sighed. "You really are…" he sneered.

"Cole, she's our child. Yours _and_ mine… spare her, just take me. That's what you're here for… for me."

"And for her."

"You're going to kill your own daughter? Cole, she is your daughter!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa – who said anything about_ killing_ her? I'm not going to kill her."

"Just turn her evil!" Paige snapped.

Cole threw the fireball at her and it hit her square in the chest.

"Paige!" Phoebe and Piper yelled.

"Naughty, naughty, Paige…" Cole mused. "I really didn't want to have to do that in front of the kids," he said in mock sorrow.

"So why did you? You didn't have to." Phoebe took a sideways glance at the kids to make sure they were okay after what they had just witnessed. Chris was crying, Wyatt looked angry and ready to kill his former uncle, and Prestyn was in shock and didn't know what to do. Phoebe gulped. "Is she dead?" She quivered.

"If someone doesn't get to her in time she will be."

"Le –" Cole covered Phoebe's mouth.

"Nuh, uh, uh. I want_ him_ to heal her," he said pointing over to Wyatt. "Do it," he ordered Wyatt.

"Heal Aunt Paige, Wyatt."

"I can't do that unless I take the field down."

"Do it or Phoebe's next, and this one _will_ kill her instantly," he sneered.

"Let us call Leo. I'll tell him to heal her and leave," Piper finally found her backbone.

"You don't understand. I want the girl. So either Paige and Phoebe die, or I can just take her with no problems."

"I'll swap you!" Wyatt yelled.

Everyone looked at him.

"There's a good boy. Let your force-field down and I'll let your Aunt Phoebe go."

"Wyatt, what are you doing!" Phoebe yelled at her nephew.

Wyatt ignored his aunt and shook his head at Cole. "Let Aunt Phoebe go and I'll let the field down."

"You don't call the shots here kid, I do!" Cole bellowed making everyone jump.

Wyattreluctantly gave in to his former demonic uncle and let his field down, grabbing his brother's hand and his cousin's hand.

"Wyatt, no!"

As Cole let the fireball down and started to advance on the children, they cowered back into Paige. Cole was now inches away from them. When it seemed that Cole could reach for Prestyn Wyatt orbed out, taking Chris, Prestyn and Paige with him.

Phoebe felt relief rush over her body. "Good boy!" She hissed. "Oh good boy."

Cole sniffed the air as though picking up on the scent of the orbs and shimmered out.

"Oh God!" Phoebe yelled as she heard shrieks erupt from the attic. She pulled her sister up by the hand and together they bolted up to the attic.

By the time the two got up into the attic, it was too late. Carnage was what was left behind.

"Wyatt!" Piper screamed. She bolted and knelt beside her unconscious son. "Chris!" She called, a quiver in her voice. He peaked around a shelf and crept out, his face sheet white and tear streaked, still sobbing from the events of the night.

"Leo!" Phoebe yelled. He orbed straight in.

"Wyatt!" He yelled. He ran to his son.

"Get Paige first!" Piper screamed, cradling Wyatt. Leo ran to Paige.

"Prestyn?" Phoebe called. "Oh God, please no. No! Prestyn?" She shouted. Tears fell down her face. "Chris, what happened to Prestyn? Where is she?" She yelled. Chris couldn't get anything out. "Chris! Where is she!"

Chris broke down into a fit of tears. "The… the bad… man took… her!" He yelled between sobs.

"Oh God," Piper whispered. Leo moved over to his son once Paige had been healed.

Phoebe put a hand to her heart. "No! God no! Please no! No, no, no!" Phoebe was now hysterical and collapsed to the floor as Paige ran over to comfort her.

"Shh. Honey, we'll get her back. Well get her back," Paige whispered.

"How!" Phoebe wailed.

"Leo, sense her, now!" Piper snapped as Wyatt woke up. Leo did as he was told. "Paige, take the boys to magic school. _Now_!"

Paige walked over to the boys, who were now both crying, and orbed them to magic school.

"Leo? Anything?" Piper asked.

Leo looked at Piper with a dreaded look on his face.

Phoebe became more hysterical.

"Try again!" She hugged her little sister tighter, kissing her forehead, trying to remain strong, but failing miserably.

"I can't sense her," Leo returned.

"Leo, try again, and don't stop until you get something," Piper spoke through gritted teeth.

"It doesn't mean she's not still alive. He may have taken her down into the underworld."

Blue and white lights entered the room and Paige evolved from them. "Anything?" She asked.

"She's gone! Oh God, she's gone!" Phoebe wailed.

"_No_ she's not!" Paige snapped. "We will get her back, Phoebe."

Phoebe took a breath to clam down, suddenly emotionless. "No. We won't. We can't. There is no possible way."

"Phoebe you can't give up," Piper spoke through her tears.

"I just have! She's gone, and there's no way of getting her back!" She pushed her sisters off of her and walked to the centre of the attic where she was engulfed in a golden light.

"What the Hell is happening?" Paige asked.

"Phoebe? Phoebe! What is going on!"

Phoebe was hovering three feet of the ground engulfed in this beautiful golden light and suddenly dropped down to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Phoebe!" Paige and Piper yelled. They ran over to their sister, to only find a child lying in the middle of the attic.

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**Ooooooooooh wats up with that! **

**Wait to find out, but leave a review in the process :)**


	8. 6: two big problems

**Reviews sure make a girl happy :) thanks to those who have, and for those who havent... WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR! Get typing - more reviews more chapters; more chapters more reviews; more reviews... its your basic math really...**

**RR&E (Read, Review and Enjoy)**

**XoXo **

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_Chapter six_

"Leo," Piper said. "Can you heal her?"

"I'm not sure." He walked over to the little girl and tried anyway.

Paige stared at the child. She looked vaguely familiar. "Where's Phoebe?" Paige questioned just above a whisper.

"You're staring at her," Piper answered with a hint of detectable anger in her voice.

"I'm sorry?" Paige questioned.

Phoebe woke up with a gasp. She looked at her surroundings and looked at the people surrounding her. She let out an ear piercing shriek followed by shouts of "_GRAMS_!" She started crawling backwards, away from those surrounding her.

"Honey, Grams is not here," Piper tried.

"Where is she? Where am _I_?" little Phoebe mumbled. "_PRUE_!"

"Honey –"

"Piper? A word?" Leo asked.

"Piper?" little Phoebe questioned. "I know Piper, and that is _not_ Piper!" little Phoebe had backed herself into a corner and sat on the floor with her knees drawn to her chest. "Who are you!" little Phoebe yelled.

Leo dragged Piper away from little Phoebe, dragging Paige with them both as well. "This is past Phoebe… You need to watch you say so as to not alter her world, which means –"

"No mention of Grams," Piper finished.

"I think he's leaning towards the bigger one, Piper," Paige said, referring to herself and the Prue situation.

"So how do we avoid that?"

In the midst of Piper, Paige and Leo's conference, little Phoebe ceased it upon herself to sneak out of the attic and into, what she remembered, to be her bedroom.

"Make up lies."

Piper sighed. "Phoebe honey…" Piper looked around the attic. "Where did she go? Guys, where did she go?"

They heard a shriek from downstairs and they all ran towards it.

"My room!" little Phoebe cried. "What happened to my room! Where are my dolls, my teddies, my pictures of Johnny?"

"Johnny?" Paige asked.

"_Huge_ obsession with Johnny Depp."

"Where am I!" She screamed.

"Sweetie you're…" Piper looked around at Leo or Paige for some kind of help.

"You're dreaming, honey," Paige tried.

"Dreaming?" Piper spat. Not even _she_ would believe that at little Phoebe's age… how old was little Phoebe anyway? Paige and Leo shot Piper a steely-eyed glare. She rolled her eyes."That's right honey, dreaming…" She played.

Little Phoebe put her hands on her hips. "How dumb do you think I am?" She spat.

"Watch your tone, missy!" Piper snapped. "Just because you don't exactly know us doesn't mean you can take a tone with us either."

Phoebe raised a brow.

"Well I _am_ ten… how can you expect me to believe that I am dreaming?"

Piper stomped her foot in frustration. "Is there some kind of spell where we can make her believe what we say?" She asked turning to her husband.

Little Phoebe scrunched her face up in confusion… _spell?_ She thought.

"Do I really need to answer that, Piper?" Leo asked with an eyebrow raised in sarcasm.

Piper sighed in frustration. "I don't have time for this."

"We gotta make time Piper! She is our sister for crying out loud!"

"Paige!" Leo hissed.

"Sister?" little Phoebe yelled. "I am not your sister! My sisters are not as pale as you; we have color in our skin tone!"

"Hey!" Paige snapped.

Piper froze little Phoebe. "Easy tiger, she's a kid."

"Was she always that mean to strangers?" Paige snapped.

"Kinda…" Piper tried to remember.

"I'm not that pale… am I?" Paige pouted.

"Well –" Leo began.

"No time!" Piper yelled. "Two demons in the one day, what the hell?" Piper yelled at the roof, trying to deliver her message to the elders.

Leo cocked his head sideways as though listening to something…

"Leo?"

"A diary?" He asked.

"What?" Piper asked back.

"Shh!" Leo hissed. He continued to listen with a far away glance on his face.

Piper looked at Paige with a frustrated glance and Paige threw her hands up in question.

"Where?" Leo asked. Silence… Leo walked over to the chest of drawers and tried to open it to no avail. Leo held his hand over the drawer – rather than his hand turning yellow, as it would to heal, it turned blue – and the drawer popped open.

"How did you…?" Piper began to ask but stopped herself when she saw Leo pull out Phoebe's diary. "I wouldn't do that Leo. If Phoebe," she looked at little Phoebe and let out an annoyed grunt, before continuing, "_Big_ Phoebe finds out we went trough her diary, we are gone… like goner than gone!"

"The Elders say it's vital to the mystery of little Phoebe." He placed the diary on the table and held his hand over it. The diary burst open and flipped to the last entry written. He picked it up and read silently.

After what felt like ages, he finally put it down and looked at his wife and sister-in-law with a solemn look. "Oh boy…"

"You can't just say that after reading something from our sister's diary, Leo," Piper said. "This is Phoebe we are talking about – do you know how much emotion that girl has?"

"Apparently enough for her subconscious to turn her into a child…"

"What?" Piper and Paige spat.

"Listen to this… '_I still remember the world from the eyes of a child. Slowly those feelings were clouded by what I know now… Pure and white as the driven snow, **she** doesn't know…The wicked ways of the world have not found her young, restless heart…She is blind to the darkness that surrounds her young innocent life … Cool, cool innocence; how I yearn to have that back once again._' She's done it to herself without even realizing it."

"Only Phoebe could and _would_ do something like that, whether she's big _or _little! Now instead of worrying about one big thing, we gotta worry about two of them!" Piper let out.

"Don't lose it now. There is plenty of time to lose it later. Now we need to find Prestyn. Remember? Cole has her somewhere that Leo can't sense her; we need to get priorities in order before we panic. So now that the Phoebe mystery is solved…" Paige let on.

"Right…" Piper agreed. "Orb little Phoebe to magic school with the boys and come back as soon as you can. We're going to venture into the underworld."


	9. 7: realization

**I own Prestyn... but i wish i owned charmed :(**

**Thanks for the reviews you guys are great... love ya KJ thanks for all your help with your ideas and pointers! You rock...**

**RR&E **

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_**Chapter seven**_

Leo, Piper and Paige orbed down into the underworld – it was eerily quiet… too quiet.

"What's the deal?" Piper hissed. "This place is normally covered with demons, where are they?"

"Like I would know?" Leo hissed back.

"Shh!" Paige snapped. "I can hear chanting."

There was a beat of silence before Piper began beating Leo on the arm. "Sense her! Sense her!" Leo did as he was told.

Piper and Paige waited impatiently for a response. "Leo, come on!" Paige snapped. A little too loudly perhaps; the chanting stopped abruptly and footsteps followed. Leo grabbed Paige and Piper by the arm and orbed out back into the manor.

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"Leo? What the Hell?" Paige snapped mid-materialization.

"Did you want to die? Because I could have left you down there for that."

Paige folded her arms over her chest and grunted.

Piper sighed and looked at Leo. "You didn't pick up on anything did you?"

Her husband looked her in the eyes with a solemn look. At this look, Piper thrust her hands out and blew up the grandfather clock, making Paige and Leo jump.

"Piper?" Paige asked.

"Tell me not to lose it, and you'll be next," she threatened, only half telling the truth.

Paige backed up and backed off. Piper started pacing back and forth in front of her husband and sister, Paige and Leo swore they could have seen the clogs ticking in her head.

"Cole would not kill her – there's no point behind it…"

"Do demons ever really need a point?" Paige dared to ask.

"No they don't, but Cole is not like any normal demon."

"How do you figure?" Paige spat.

"Because he's half human," Leo cut in.

"So what the Hell else would he want with a five year old?"

Piper's head snapped up in realization. "Of course… God we are _so_ stupid, it was right in front of us all along!"

"What was?" Paige asked.

"Of course he doesn't want to kill her; he wants an heir… or an heiress rather."

"Heiress of what? What is there to take over?" Paige asked.

"The Underworld," Leo announced.

"But he isn't the Source anymore; we destroyed the Source."

"But Belthazor is second best after the Source," Piper realized.

"Come again?" Paige asked. "And do so _slowly_."

"He's not just Cole, half demon half human; he's Cole as in _Belthazor_ half demon half human."

"So he is pretty much in charge of the underworld… pretty much the ruler of it because the Source doesn't exist –"

"And he is trying to either turn Prestyn completely evil –"

"Hence the chanting –"

"Or he wants her as she is, but wants her as his heiress so she can keep charge of the Underworld –"

"Should anything happen to Cole…" Paige finished.

Leo was getting dizzy from Piper and Paige finishing each other's sentences, but was glad to see that some sense was being made about why Prestyn was taken.

"She shouldn't turn evil though, right Paige? Because you finished the potion didn't you?" Piper asked.

Paige glared at her older sister. "You _know_ that I haven't finished it yet!"

"How could you not have finished it?" Piper let out.

"I have been at that thing for five years and things are _still_ missing from it and there are things in there that _shouldn't_ be in there. A potion like that isn't easy to make!"

"It shouldn't be that hard, Paige! We did it for Cole!"

"No we did not! We made his powers dormant – we gave him a power stripping potion! This potion is one to rid her demonic side _completely_!"

"Great! So now we've no hope!" Piper threw her hands up in defeat.

"First of all, don't you dare pin this on me; second of all, even if the potion had been complete and she had taken it, it only takes the demonic side out of her body, it won't stop her from possibly turning evil."

"So what the hell kind of potion is it!" Piper yelled.

"Stop!" Leo yelled. Piper and Paige stared at him. "Such a potion doesn't exist for a start, if it did, don't you think I'd have made you three take it by now? We could have avoided Phoebe turning evil more than once! But it doesn't exist, and you two arguing over nothing is only gonna waste time when you should be out finding Prestyn!"

"We could have had Prestyn safe at home by now, but _someone_ dragged us away!" Paige snapped.

"No we couldn't have because Leo couldn't pick up on her scent," Piper realized.

"That doesn't mean anything," Paige said.

"Paige, he can't pick anything up from here, which means she is either down in the underworld or…Just not." She led on. "We went down into the underworld and couldn't pick up on anything; face it, we're at the worst case scenario right now!"

"You just said, not more than five minutes ago, that he would not kill her!"

"That was five minutes ago!"

"You are driving me nuts! What you said before makes sense! Not this cockamamie nonsense you got going now!"

"So why can't we pick up on a scent?" No one could provide an answer. Silence filled the manor and it was an awkward one at that.

"Scrying," Paige chirped.

"What?"

"We can scry for her."

"If we can't pick up on her scent, Scrying wouldn't work either; it's the same thing," Leo spoke.

"So why not scry for _him_?"

"What would the point of that be? If she's –"

"To get revenge of course!"

"Of course," she echoed sarcastically.

"Besides, who's to say she's not still alive? You said that he wouldn't kill her, and even _Cole_ said he wouldn't. What if we can't sense her because Cole doesn't want her to be found? What if we can't sense her because she's already evil and we can't sense evil?"

"Too many 'what ifs'."

"But providing hope."

Piper looked at Leo. "Go and check on the boys and Phoebe; try and see if big Phoebe is inside or try and see if something can jog little Phoebe about big Phoebe's future? Whatever is going to happen, we're going to need the power of three; not the power of two and a half…" Leo nodded his head and orbed out. Piper looked at Paige."So where do we start?"


	10. 8: the missing link

**hey hey hey, now what happened to all my reviewers? Thanks to KJ who is still on the kylie bandwagon... all the others need to get back on to the bandwagon - the story gets better i promise and there will be a sequal, just keep the faith in it and keep reviewing. any questions, just ask...**

**RR&E **

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_Chapter eight_

Five hooded men surrounded Prestyn who was seemingly unconscious, sprawled out on an alter. Each man held a crystal ball and stood between two candles each. Cole stood at the head of the group with an athame in his hands. He grabbed his daughter's hand and sliced her palm with it; letting blood drip on to the globe, while chanting;

'_Apud hic nocte et apud hora,_

_Nos vocatio ex vetustas potestus_

_Dimitto lucrum de suus anima_

_Mando malus altus intus suus exosso'_

Cole chanted the spell again; the globe in his hands fogging with a white mist, as had all the other globes. It seemed as though white mist was too much for the globe to handle, but Cole continued chanting with the small group joining in this time around;

'_Apud hic nocte et apud hora,_

_Nos vocatio ex vetustas potestus_

_Dimitto lucrum de suus anima_

_Mando malus altus intus suus exosso'_

Prestyn was rising off of the alter embedded in a black cloud and convulsing violently.

Again, Cole and the small group of men chanted the spell;

'_Apud hic nocte et apud hora,_

_Nos vocatio ex vetustas potestus_

_Dimitto lucrum de suus anima_

_Mando malus altus intus suus exosso'_

Glass shattered; Prestyn fell – hard – on to the alter. Cole looked around and saw that one of the crystal balls had fallen out of the hands of a hooded figure. "Insolence!" Cole rumbled. He hurled a fire ball at the man. After that, crystal ball after crystal ball shattered until there was nothing left. "What the Hell?" Cole asked himself.

"Master…" One of the hooded figures reluctantly began.

"I don't know!" Cole bellowed. "The good must be overpowering the evil somehow."

"So what do we do now?"

"Try again!"

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"We've tried enough already!" Piper yelled at her baby sister. Paige ignored Piper and continued to scry. "Paige, stop! Just stop!" Piper snapped, taking away the map of the city so Paige could no longer scry.

"Piper what are you doing?" Paige yelled. "We can't find them without the map!"

"We have tried three times to find him, and we haven't."

"It doesn't mean we won't."

"What, so he has cloaked himself, too, now?" Piper let out.

Paige thought and then shook her head. "No… not himself… not Prestyn either… He's cloaked wherever it is they are; which means she's alive; which means they are still here on earth!"

"Okay Nancy Drew, even so, how are we to find them if the place is cloaked?"

"I don't even think Nancy Drew can solve that one. We need to take this a step at a time."

"We don't have the time for that."

"We don't have the time for it, but unfortunately Piper it is all we can do."

The girls were interrupted by orbs as Leo had come back from magic school.

"How are the boys?" Piper asked.

"Chris is still upset, and Wyatt is curious about the girl who happens to remind him a lot about Aunt Phoebe," he answered.

Piper sighed. "He'll figure it out soon – he's a smart boy."

"Great White Lighter material," Leo admitted with a smile.

"Don't start," Piper glared.

"Uh, how _is_ little Phoebe?" Paige asked, interrupting before an argument could erupt.

"In a word? Curious."

"Well that's Phoebe for you… she has to know everything."

"Yeah only she won't let me get close enough to tell her anything."

"How is she with the boys?"

"Wyatt doesn't like her; she's bossing him around too much," he said with a smile.

"Yeah, Phoebe was a lot like that when she was younger too… can't blame him," she chuckled.

"Any breakthroughs here?" he asked.

"I don't think that Prestyn is dead and I don't think that Cole has cloaked himself or Prestyn…" Paige said full of pride.

"So where does this leave the 'can't sense her anywhere' thing?"

"Paige seems to think that Cole has cloaked wherever it is they are."

"That's possible."

"There's a problem though – how do we find them? More importantly _her_…"

Leo thought for a little bit, before an idea lit his face; his blue eyes shining, instantly reminding Piper that that was one of the many reasons why she had fallen in love with him inthe first place. _Don't get sidetracked! _She yelled at herself.

"That's brilliant!" Paige let out. "How sure are you that it will work?"

"Pretty sure."

"You mean as 'pretty sure' as you were that Phoebe would tell us about Prestyn's dream slash premonition?" Paige countered with a cocky grin.

Piper was confused. She had missed the 'brilliant' idea that her husband had had. "Time out!" Piper called. "Now isn't exactly the time to get into that argument. We need to… uh…" Piper had no choice but to spill the beans. "What is it that we are doing? I kind of zoned out."

Paige and Leo looked at the eldest Charmed One.

"You zoned out?" Paige echoed. "Piper we really don't have time for you to zone out when Prestyn is in serious danger!" She snapped.

"I'm sorry; my fault; we'll argue later about it. What's the plan?"

"Paige was only focusing on Prestyn as a person. If she can focus on her scent and her aura, her spirit, maybe it will lead the crystal to a place close by to where she is."

"So we just bust down doors until we find her?" Piper said a little sarcastically.

"You got a better idea?" Leo shot back.

"Just ignore her, Leo. She's been like this all afternoon."

"It brings us that step closer to finding her, Piper; that way we can focus on Phoebe afterwards."

"So I'll take my map back thank you!" Paige snapped, snatching the map back from her sister andsplaying it out on the table in front of her, holding the crystal in her fist. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and focused before dropping the crystal over the map and watching it swing until it finally dropped on to a location on the map.

"Is it going to work?" Piper whispered to Leo.

"What do you mean?" he whispered back.

"Well technically, Prestyn isn't her charge; can she find her that way by scrying?"

"No reason why she shouldn't."

Paige groaned.

"You didn't find her?" Piper asked.

Paige sighed and looked up from the map. "I found something."

"Well get the keys, get your jacket and let's go." Piper began heading out of the attic when Paige stopped her.

"It's going to be a little harder than that, Piper."

"Stop beating around the bush and tell me the problem."

"It isn't specific. The crystal points out that she is in the industrial area on 7th."

"_On 7th_!" Piper yelled. "Do you know how big that area _is_!"

"All the more reason for us to start searching now," Leo commented.

The three of them exited the attic.

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	11. 9: Score!

**thanks goes to those who have reviewed my work - keep going with it, and i promise, more will come of it :)**

**Just to let you all know - i own no one and nothing apart from the character of Prestyn. **

**sorry if this chapter lags - hopefully the rest will not! **

**Luv you all:)

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_**Chapter nine**_

"This is ridiculous!" Piper screamed throwing her hands up in defeat. "This hasn't helped us, this has hindered us! We've been at this damned area for two days now and we have still turned up with nothing! Not a damned item of her clothing, a toy, a strand of her frieking hair or demon flesh, not even a damned scorch mark!"

"Leo there's got to be a better way at doing this," Paige said, completely ignoring her sister.

"We already tried using the map of the industrial area to try and get further help and that turned up zip; I'm not sure there's anything else that can help."

They were back at Halliwell Manor trying to figure out their next move. They were in the conservatory; Paige and Leo were sitting on the couch and Piper was pacing back and forth mumbling incoherent words.

Piper blew up door after door to see if anyone was inside and had found nothing and heard nothing. They had nothing to go on, no clues to follow… there was nothing and it scared them.

"Damn you Phoebe," Piper mumbled. "We could really use you right now." She hugged a teddy and sat on the couch next to Paige, squinting her eyes to hold back tears.

"That's it!" Paige exclaimed with a smile on her face, jumping up out of her seat; Piper's head snapped up to look at her sister. "Leo, bring Phoebe down, now!"

Leo didn't want to risk being yelled at so he orbed out as soon as he had been told to.

"Paige?" Piper asked; her eyebrows furrowing in. She stood up so she was on Paige's level – even thought Paige towered over the eldest Halliwell sibling by, about, a foot.

"I'll be back down in a minute!" She called, running out of the conservatory. Piper sighed and shook her head. She sat back down again.

"Let me go!" Cries filled the manor.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Here we go."

Little Phoebe looked at Piper in unmistakable disgust. "You again!" She screamed. "What is this crazy place!" She yelled, tearing her arm out of Leo's grasp.

Piper groaned and froze her.

"Sweetie," Leo laughed. "You can't keep doing that to her."

"Yeah I can," Piper scoffed with a serious look.

Paige came running into the conservatory. "I got what I was looking…" Paige got a glimpse of frozen little Phoebe and looked at her sister. "For. What happened?"

"She got a little too much to handle," Piper answered quickly. "What's with the bedspread?" She asked raising a brow and pointing to it.

"Premonition. We are going to use this to get a premonition off of." She motioned towards little Phoebe's direction.

"Hold it." Piper put her hand up to stop her sister. "Powers were never activated when we were younger."

"But magic is still in her." Leo countered.

"And how do we explain to her the images in her head?" Piper asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"Um… She's crazy?" Paige tried with a big smile planted on her face.

Piper glared at her sister. "No. You are!"

"Do you want to find Prestyn?"

"Of course I want to find her; she's my damned niece for God's sake!" Piper flared.

"So stop arguing with me about it. There are going to be sacrifices we're going to have to make and risks we are going to have to take in order to find her. Whether that means we blow the future for little Phoebe or not! If we do, we can just dust her from what she sees, or even this entire thing that has happened with her turning into little Phoebe and all. If it helps us find our niece, then I'm sorry, I'm going against you and doing what I have to do in order to find her and get Phoebe back! Now unfreeze her."

Piper stood in thought for a few minutes; how sure could they be that little Phoebe would get a premonition? How would they explain this all to her? She sighed and unfroze her little, little sister.

Little Phoebe looked around and noticed Paige standing in the conservatory – she was not there before!

Little Phoebe jumped and gasped upon the sight of Paige. "Wh… Where did you come from?" She screamed

"Yeesh! Enough with your screaming! We are in earshot; just speak to us like normal would you?" Piper snapped.

Little Phoebe looked stunned; she crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the woman.

"And uncross those arms and wipe that look off your face. My God, what's wrong with you? Show a little respect and some manners."

"You sound exactly like my sister."

"Well she is right."

"You don't even know her," she mumbled looking to the floor.

"Wanna make a bet?"

Paige elbowed Piper hard in the ribs. "Why don't I try to talk to her?" She turned to her eldest sister.

"I don't want any of you to talk to me," Little Phoebe answered for Piper. "I wanna go home," she sobbed.

Paige walked over and squatted down to her older sister seemingly trapped in a ten-year-old's body. "We're trying to help you get back, sweetie, but there are things that you need to do to help us first before we can let you go back."

Little Phoebe shook her head 'no' and backed up into the conservatory wall.

Paige sighed a little and inched closer towards her little, big sister. "Honey, how else can you get home if you don't trust us?"

"I've been told about people like you… I'm not supposed to talk to them," she mumbled.

"Grams told us about _evil_ people, we aren't evil," Piper stepped in.

Little Phoebe's eyes went wide. "How do you know who Grams is?"

"We're her… cousins; her distant cousins. And we're the only ones who know how to get you home. So you need to do what we say," Piper said, creeping towards her sister. She tried to lighten up, maybe it would loosen her up – she even smiled; amidst all of what was happening.

Little Phoebe shook her head again. "I don't buy it."

Piper rolled her eyes and grunted. She stood up as Paige did and slapped her hands onto her hips. She turned to Paige. "We don't have time for this, Paige. We need to find Prestyn and we need to find her now!"

Paige nodded both to herself and to Piper. She turned towards little Phoebe and started towards her slowly before squatting down to be on her level again. She smiled at her little, big sister and put a hand on her shoulder. "I know that your Grams said you're not supposed to trust us, but just for a minute can't you trust us?" Paige persuaded. "We haven't done anything for you to not trust us have we?"

"No, but a lot of crazy stuff is going on! And it doesn't take a genius to figure out that something is very wrong with you and your friends." Phoebe had finally gone down a step from yelling to talking normally, but with alert still in her voice.

"Sister. Piper is my sister, and Leo is my brother-in-law."

"And it is creepy that you have a sister named Piper."

"Two people can't have the same name?" Paige cocked a brow with a small smile.

"I didn't say that. It's just your sister looks a little like my sister and my sister's name is Piper too. It's scary."

"Well if I ask Piper to leave, would you be okay?"

Little Phoebe looked at Piper, and looked back to Paige, nodding her head. Piper rolled her eyes, barked a sarcastic 'you've got to be kidding' laugh and stormed out of the conservatory, muttering explicit words under her breath. Little Phoebe trudged over to the couch and dropped in the seat. "You're nicer than her; is she always this mean?" Phoebe whispered.

"Nah," Paige said with a smile, glad to see that she could make her sister cave yet again. "She's just a little cranky."

"Why?" Phoebe asked.

"Well our five-year-old niece is missing and we can't find her anywhere; she's a little upset – and you not cooperating isn't making her any happier either, missy."

"She's so rigid! She's like my sister."

"Piper?"

Little Phoebe shook her head. "No. I have another sister too – she's also older than me."

"Well like I said sweetie, she's a little cranky and upset."

There was a beat of silence. Little Phoebe noticed the bedspread in Paige's hands and arched in her seat.

"Why are you holding a bedspread?"

Paige looked at her hands. She was so busy persuading little Phoebe to trust her, Piper, and Leo, that she had completely forgotten that it was in her hands and what she wanted with it. She silently laughed at herself.

"This?" Phoebe nodded. "This is going to help us find our niece; and once that is done, we can concentrate on getting you home."

"How is it going to help you find your niece?" She part scoffed.

"Well…" Paige began slowly… "I was kind of hoping you could do something for me actually…" she led on.

Little Phoebe retracted and scrunched her face up. She looked at Paige questioningly.

--------

Piper was pacing around the foyer in impatience. "Who does the little witch think she is?" She squeaked.

Ever since she had practically been forced out of the conservatory by little Phoebe all she had done was pace back and forth and babble. Sometimes incoherently, sometimes coherently, sometimes grunting, sometimes growling, or sometimes just making sounds because she couldn't form words let alone a sentence. Leo found this amusing to watch.

"This is ridiculous! She can't have a premonition, her powers were bound at that age – they all were!"

"Just because they're bound doesn't mean she can't summon them… Premonition is a power that one can summon, just like telekinesis or astral projection – you don't need a spell to get them. If you focus and concentrate it'll happen."

"And we explain that to Phoebe how? How do we explain the images to her in her head? We are breaking, like, a huge, huge, huge rule! We are not first on the elders list… and now this is going to throw us completely _off_ the list!"

"Honey, they'll understand –"

Piper laughed. "No they won't. They don't understand, they'll _never_ understand! They'll never understand that we have to break the rules in order to do our jobs! That in order to save one, someone always has to die; that in the battle for the finish, the big fight, someone _will_ inevitably die and we can't break the stupid rules to do something about it because we get punished! It all comes down to rules! Rules that they _know_ we have to break in order to save the day!"

Leo looked skyward and gave a look that both apologized and knew what was to come; he needed to go. Piper saw red, but decided to hold her breath and count to three before releasing her breath.

Piper closed her eyes tight, trying to contain her anger. "And they keep taking you away every second of the day… what if something happens and we need you?" Piper coolly and calmly asked. "They could have you in some meeting, because you're near elder material, and we could need you and they won't let you go because you're in the meeting…"

Leo grabbed his wife, and pulled her into his chest, kissing her. The two felt like they were the only ones that existed in the world, and for that one instant, Piper felt safe and normal. It was intense and it left her wanting more when they finished the kiss… _back to reality!_ Piper snapped at herself. Leo held Piper in his arms. "Nothing is going to happen. If you call, I will come. If you need to break a rule in order to make progress, then do it. They can't do anything."

Piper buried her head into his chest. "They can take you away again. They can take away our powers like they did with Phoebe – they're in control. The ones in control always win… why do you think Prestyn was taken? Cole was in control, and we were following rules… rules that got us no where."

Leo looked skyward again – he knew the Elders were getting impatient; even worse was that he knew his wife was going to be upset and angry if he went during the middle of a crisis.

Piper sighed. "Go. It's twice they've jingled you now – if they have to do it a third time there'll be hell to pay."

"What about –"

"We will do what we always do – find some way around it to save the day –"

"I meant about us."

Piper sighed. "We will also do what we always do –"

"Talk about it later." He nodded to himself and orbed out.

Piper sighed and strolled back into the conservatory; she watched as her little sister held onto the bedspread with her eyes closed and listened as Paige coaxed little Phoebe into trying to get a premonition. She looked over at little Phoebe and was amazed at how she missed how smart Phoebe was at that age – Piper was too busy either bailing her out of her troubles or busy yelling at her for not doing things or not caring. She felt a little guilty at how she snapped at her before – she was only doing as she was told by not being trusting of Piper or Paige. She realized that most of their pre-teen years were spent at each other's throats, rather then being there for her when she needed it the most – especially the age that this Phoebe was, for it was a year of much turmoil – too many people walked out of the girls' lives that year. _I should have been there for her, _Piper snapped at herself. That was one of the many reasons why little Phoebe wasn't trusting of Piper or Paige, or really anyone new that walked into her life – she was far too worried that they would walk out on her. Little Phoebe felt eyes on her; she opened her own and saw Piper. She looked at Piper and let go of the bedspread.

"You can keep going, I'm not going to distract you or yell at you," Piper spoke.

Little Phoebe looked at Paige. "It's not working. I'm really sorry, but I can't help you find your niece."

"Yes you can – you have to," Piper jumped in.

"Why do _I_ have to? I don't even know you – why is _my_ help so important to you?"

Piper hesitated, and remembered her conversation with Paige earlier… _'sacrifices'; 'blowing the future'; 'risks'; 'dusting'_… she then remembered her conversation with Leo… _'break the rules to save the day'_… "Uh… Well, you're the only one who _can_."

"I don't get it."

"Yeah, you won't get it for a long while yet," Piper admitted while shaking her head.

There was a beat of silence. Piper looked to Paige in a silent, but desperate, plea.

Paige swiped a piece of her auburn hair out of her eyes. "Sweetie, please just try for me one more time. I promise just once more and then no more."

Little Phoebe sighed. "So I need to do what?"

Paige smiled at Piper. Piper was amazed that Paige could persuade Phoebe so easily.

Paige looked at little Phoebe and pushed the bedspread into her direction. "I just want you to tell me what you see in your head when you touch this."

"And one more time, why me?" Little Phoebe asked.

"Because I trust your instincts."

Little Phoebe took a deep breath, closed her eyes and held onto the bedspread. Paige looked at Piper with hope gleaming in her eyes. Little Phoebe opened her eyes and looked at Paige.

"Help," she said.

"You need to concentrate and clear everything out of your mind." Little Phoebe closed her eyes and concentrated. "Steady your breathing and when you get an image, tell me what you see."

Halliwell manor fell silent; Piper and Paige looked at each other with worried glances. Piper was picking at her cuticles – a nervous habit she had developed, while Paige had held her breath.

After what felt like forever, Phoebe finally opened her eyes and looked at Paige with a tiny smile.

"Did you see anything?" Piper asked eagerly and anxiously.

Little Phoebe nodded. "It just popped into my head out of nowhere."

"It's called an instinct. What did you see?" Piper half snapped. Paige glared at her oldest sister.

"A building. A big, tall building."

"Anything in particular you saw about the building?" Paige asked.

Little Phoebe looked to the roof and scrunched her face up, recalling what she saw. "All the windows were boarded up…"

"Okay, what was near the building? Cars? People? Signs?"

"Well, I didn't see an actual building – I saw an empty lot… the building next to it was the one I saw, but the first thing I saw was the empty lot."

"Okay, describe _everything_."

"Well there was nothing about the empty lot that I can point out, but there was an 'abandoned' sign on the boarded up building… and a dump on the other side of the empty lot… I think."

Piper's heart skipped a beat and relief washed over her face. This was the chance she had been hoping for… she just hoped that it wasn't wrong. She wondered why the Elders sent her the premonitions. Wasn't it breaking, like, a hundred million rules? She would take whatever she could get at this point, and flowed with it.

"We have the son of a bitch cornered!" Paige let out.

"Leo!" Piper called. She waited a minute, before calling for her husband again. "Leo! It'll only be a second or two." There was nothing. Piper sighed and shut her eyes tight and, again, counted to three before opening them again. When she opened them, Leo was standing before her. Piper smiled slightly. "Take Phoebe to school with the boys, we've found Prestyn."

Phoebe listened to what Piper was saying and raised a brow.

"Are you sure?" Leo asked.

"Judging by what we've been told from what she saw, yeah, hopefully."

"If not?"

"Then I don't know what we do from there."

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	12. 10: the plans of good and evil

**I'm baaaaack! I'm really sorry for taking my time in updating and even sorry..er for the short chapter but expect an update asap as i know what i want for the next one... i kind of suffered from writer's block - KJ you know what i'm on about... the next chapter has your idea written all over it (you will get special thanks in the next chapter :)) **

**I also need more reviews people! so get on the kylie bandwagon! read it and review - please dont just read it and review once and never again or read it and not review at all. reviews keep me going and give me esteem... so RR&E (read, review and enjoy) :) **

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_Chapter ten_

Paige and Piper orbed to the outside of the dump almost as soon as Leo had left with little Phoebe. They seemed to have orbed to the right spot – dump on one side of an empty lot, and a building with an abandoned sign on the other. Paige looked from the empty lot to the building and back to Piper again.

"We have two options by the looks of things," she explained. "They're either in the abandoned building –"

"Or this empty lot really isn't an empty lot at all and they've cloaked the building that really stands here."

"And judging how little Phoebe said the empty lot was what she saw first, I'm guessing that this is where they are."

"So how do we get in?" Piper asked.

Paige closed her eyes and tried to orb, and, as she did, got thrown into the street violently with a grunt.

Piper's eyes went wide and she ran over to her baby sister. "What the Hell was that?" She let out.

"They must have put more than just a cloaking spell around the building…" She trailed, tending to her back. She attempted to get up. Piper walked over to the empty lot, careful to keep her distance and studied it. Paige slowly managed to get up, grumbling and groaning as she did and joined her sister.

"We're gonna blow this baby up." Piper put her hands into fists and went to blow up whatever surrounded the building when Paige made a grab for her hands. "Wh… What are you doin'!" She yelled.

"I orbed and got thrown onto my ass – who's to say if you blow up the gate, you won't blow yourself up?"

"Take a risk and make a sacrifice – isn't that what you were saying before?"

"I didn't mean sacrifice yourself!" Paige let out, annoyed.

"Well what are wesupposed to do?" Piper looked at Paige in frustration and confusion. Piper got a shock when Paige returned the same look.

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Prestyn sat in a corner trapped in an invisible cage, sobbing and sniffling. She tried to shimmer – more than once – it didn't work and she couldn't understand why it wasn't working. Normally if she thought about another place she would be there. When she thought about being safe in her mommy's arms; nothing happened. She let out a little yelp when she couldn't shimmer – this gave her attention from Cole. He looked over to herand walked over to the corner that his daughter was trapped in; he squatted down and Prestyn scurried further back into the wall, not realizing that she wasn't going anywhere, just focusing on getting away from this man. "_Uncie Leo!_" Prestyn screeched.

Cole chuckled evilly. "That won't work." Prestyn continued to sob and sniffle, burying her head into her knees which were drawn up close to her chest. Cole took on mock sympathy. "Aw honey," he began as he wiped a tear from his daughter's cheek – she flinched and gasped. "Why are you crying, huh? We can't have a cry-baby ruling can we?"

"I don't want to rule! I want my mommy!" She screamed, fresh, hot tears running down her face.

Cole sighed. "Do you even know what 'rule' means?" Prestyn shook her head and looked to the ground. "It means you get to be the boss. You get to be the boss of all of everyone down here and they will treat you like a Queen and you don't have to follow anyone's rules – doesn't that sound like fun?" He condescended. Although at five years old, Prestyn would hardly know the difference. Prestyn sniffled in answer. "If you stay here with me, you can have everything and anything you want and you don't have to ask for it. No one says 'no' down here either."

Prestyn looked at Cole. She wiped the last of her tears and took a deep breath. "What about my mommy?"

Cole scoffed. "What _about_ your mommy?" He sneered.

"Well can she stay too?" Innocence reined her.

"Well no she can't."

"You said nobody says 'no', but you just said no!"

"I'm allowed to say no."

"Why?"

"Because right now; _I_ am the boss and you are _not_. When you get older, _then_ you can be the boss."

"You were mean toAunt Paige and mommy and Wyatt and Chris – I don't wanna stay here with a bad man who hurts people."

"I'm not a bad man – I'm your daddy," he spat out – surprised that it had sounded more like he was hurt rather than sounding manipulative.

Prestyn went wide-eyed and gasped. "You are _not_ my daddy! My daddy would never be mean to my mommy or my Aunt Piper or myAuntie Paigeor my Wyatt or my Chris! My daddy is in the arms of the angels and my mommy says he was a nice man and I would have really liked him – and _I_ –_ do _–_ not_ –_ like_ –_ you!_" She screamed.

At this, Cole's eyes flamed over. He had had enough – he could handle being told that he was hated from various strangers, humans – even his ex-wife (the only love of his life – literally), but he would not take it from his daughter – his _five year old_ daughter no less! Part of him wanted to kill her; yet the other part of him wanted to keep her as his successor but knew that if he didn't kill her he would grow to love her – this was a battle that he was not particularly happy in partaking. The part of him that wanted to keep her only wanted to keep her as his successor because he knew that at such a young age, she would be easy to persuade – she could turn her against her family as time went by if he wanted to; he knew that this was too easy… yet somehow, this plan was proving him wrong. He got up and stalked away from Prestyn. He knew that if he was going to do this, he would have to do it the only way he knew how – through trade.

"Find one or all of the witches and bring them here!" He bellowed. Three of the hooded figures shimmered out upon his command.

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**Okay it's a bit of a long shot... maybe a short shot, but i didnt know whether to end it or not... if i hadnt ended it, it could have gone on for ages and ages! so i'd rather stop it now, and have a deeper and longer chapter next time (it covers over three whole dot points! OH MY GOD!) but you need to keep on the kylie bandwagon in order to find out what is going on! **

**SO HIT THE BUTTON! HIT THE BUTTON! HIT THE BUTTON:)**


	13. 11: safe at last

**I'm sorry all my reviewers! I promised a quick update... but i wasn't that quick... at least i'm not like SOMEONE i know... (ahem, KJ... you better be hiding, girl) ;) Love ya girl. Look, i really hope this chapter is a good read, and if it isn't, please tell me why it isn't, and if it is... tell me anyway - i need something to put a smile on dial these days!**

**RR&E guys :) **

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_Chapter eleven_

"Paige this is ridiculous and dangerous not just on our part but on Prestyn's too!" Piper yelled at her youngest sister. "Standing out here doing nothing is not going to do anything to get us in there! Who knows what he's done to her by now!"

"We're not, _not_ doing anything!" Paige defended. She then changed her mind,"Well you haven't done anything but complain; _I_ am actually trying to come up with a plan to get into the building that isn't exactly standing here right now! I say we should go home to concoct a potion that will bust open the force field!"

"You've already suggested that and I told you that we don't have the time for that!"

Paige noticed something appear from the corner of her eye; she noticed that there were _three_ somethings that had appeared and then she noticed that these somethings were actually some_ones_! She took a deep breath – _Great! Why don't you just add **one more **__bump on the road?_ She scolded the Elders and warlocks in her thoughts.

"We could always hitch a ride with the warlocks that just happened to join us right now," Paige offered weakly.

"Very funny Paige," Piper glared.

Paige shook her head. "You're not really all that observant are you?"

"What? Why? This is hardly the time or – _Oh my God_! Paige! Warlocks! There are warlocks!" Piper shrieked.

"And the penny drops!" Paige screamed at her.

Immediately Piper blew up the demon closest to her and Paige without giving it a second thought. She aimed to blow up the other two coming at them, but Paige yelled at her to "Freeze them!" Piper did as she was told, and then turned to her younger sister, puzzled.

"Why did you ask me to do that?" Piper asked propping a hand on her hip and bending the opposite knee. Paige looked to her older sister with hope glistening in her chocolate brown eyes.

"Maybe… _Just_ maybe, these guys are the key to getting into the building," she smiled.

Piper grunted. "Explain _that_ theory," she scoffed.

"If I orb one them into the field and hold him there long enough for you to blow him up, then it might create a hole in the field long enough for us to get through."

Piper tried to let it register, but made no sense out of it. "How?" She asked.

"Evil is the only thing that can get through this field, right? So when you blow him up, he flies backwards into the field, which means that as he goes through it, a hole opens up to let him pass through it. So when he is blown into a tiny million pieces, the hole will be open until his little pieces disappear –"

"Leaving us time to run through the hole… It's worth a shot, let's do it." Piper unfroze the remaining warlocks and blew up the one closest to her and her sister. "Are you ready?" She asked Paige.

"No. But we don't the time or a choice right now." The last remaining warlock was advancing in on her and Piper, and they started to back up slowly.

"Do it."

Paige thrust her hand out. "Warlock! Force field!"

The warlock dematerialized out of the street and just as he rematerialized into the force field Piper blew him up.

"Go! Go!" Paige screamed at her eldest sister. Paige could see a small opening and saw the building that stood there. She made a grab for Piper's hand and bolted through the force field. Piper made it through just as the force field closed. The two girls were now surrounded by four walls, a roof, a stairwell and an elevator. "I can't believe that worked!" Paige breathed, looking at her new surroundings. "Very cool."

"You can't believe it?" Piper scoffed. "I can't believe you came up with it!" She hissed.

"Shut up," Paige said, hitting her sister lightly over the shoulder.

Piper jokingly glared at her little sister before realizing the situation at hands. "Part one of the plan is complete…" Piper mumbled.

"That was easy…" Paige stated.

"Easy? Did you forget what we went through to find this place? How are we supposed to find her _now_?" Piper hissed.

"Shh!" Was Piper's answer. Piper jumped at her sister's response. "Do you want us to get caught?" Paige snapped.

"Maybe that might not be such a bad idea…"

"What!" Paige hissed.

"If we get caught, wouldn't we be taken to the same spot Prestyn is?"

"They wouldn't be that stupid. It's all us, girl. We gotta find her ourselves."

"How?" Piper asked.

Paige thought about it. "I can sense for her. There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to."

Piper nodded at her sister to continue, but was answered by eyelids and a hand on hers. Piper knew to stay quiet while her sister sensed for their niece.

Paige focused every fiber of her body with everything she had to sense for Prestyn. When she felt a pull, she let it take her.

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Paige and Piper orbed in behind a pile of crates. They peeked their heads out to see what was going on. They saw Prestyn risen off of the alter surrounded in a black mist and the hooded figures mumbling a Latin chant. Piper tried to run out to make a scene and distract them but was pulled back by Paige.

Piper glared at her sister and froze the scene, but it didn't work. "Great!" Piper hissed. "Now what do we do?"

Prestyn began shaking violently.

"Paige!" Piper hissed.

Paige held her hand out towards Prestyn's direction. "Prestyn! Elders!" She whispered.

Prestyn stayed where she was.

"Louder, Paige!" Piper spoke just above a whisper.

"Prestyn! Elders!" Paige ordered above a whisper. Nothing happened and the mist was beginning to enter Prestyn's body. Paige looked at Piper questioningly.

"Do it."

Paige stepped out from behind the crates. "Prestyn! Elders!" She screamed. All of the hooded figures turned to face the two Charmed Ones while Cole kept his focus on Prestyn who was dematerializing out of the building.

"No. No!" He bellowed. "Kill them! Now!"

Five of the hooded men began on advancing on Piper and Paige.

"Uh-oh…"

"Go, go, go!" Piper yelled hitting her sister over the shoulder. Piper latched on to Piper's hand and orbed out just as three energy balls came flying in their direction.

"Damn it! Sense for the girl, now!"

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Piper and Paige rematerialized 'up there' much to the shock of Piper. "Paige, we aren't allowed up here."

"I didn't aim to orb here, I aimed to orb home."

Piper looked around. "Wh… Where is Prestyn?"

"Is this your doing Paige Matthews?" A man asked. He had appeared in orbs and had a white cloak on. The girls knew he could be trusted and that he was a being of good nature. He held a crying Prestyn in his arms and both Piper and Paige breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah…" Reminding herself of whom she was talking to, she corrected her statement. "Yes it was."

Prestyn snapped her head around at the familiar voice. "Auntie Paige!" The five year old screeched. 'Up there' was definitely different as the walls shook when she screamed. This scared Prestyn and she shimmered herself out of the Elder's arms and into Paige's. "Oh thank God." Paige began stroking her niece's hair, while Piper rubbed her back.

"Why did you orb her up here? We told Leo to tell you all that if the middle Charmed One were to keep the child, we would want nothing to do with it."

"It was the safest place I could think of at that point in time."

"Yeah hi –" Piper began in a matter of fact tone. "I don't think you have a choice considering she is the child of a Charmed One. If you don't comply, then we don't comply."

The Elder turned to face Piper in anger. "You, my dear Charmed One, are skating on thin ice as it is, so I would watch what you say and to whom you direct it."

"Yeah see, I think you're on thinner ice than I am pal. You and your guys are the one that sent the premonition to Prestyn in the first place, which is how we got into this mess in the first place – so if anyone is skating on thin ice buddy, it is you."

"Tame your sister –"

"Or what?" Piper challenged. "We have the upper hand here. Don't tell me you've forgotten all the stuff you have put me and my sisters, not to mention _Leo_, through in the past, I don't know, thirteen years. We can either comply or not comply, and if we don't comply then you and your little friends here are more than screwed. So you take her in and keep her until we say it is safe or the Charmed Ones are going on a supernatural hiatus and you and the other elders won't have a chance in Hell."

The Elder waved his hand and Piper disappeared in orbs. Paige looked around. Prestyn saw what had happened and had begun to cry again, not knowing what had happened to her aunt.

"Wh… What did you do to her?" Paige asked. Careful not to have a specific tone in her voice.

"I simply sent her home. Be thankful I sent only her, and not you and your niece."

"I am. Believe me I am –"

"But?"

"But, Piper kind of did have a point." The Elder raised an eyebrow with a look of displeasure. "Notwith the whole thin ice thing and the whole threatening thing. Prestyn is five years old, she doesn't yet know the difference between good and evil to choose between it. She doesn't even have an active power to use against anyone, so she is not a threat to anyone up here –"

The Elder raised his hand to silence Paige. "Be that as it may, the child is still evil. She was conceived –"

"By a _witch_ too. Not just a demon."

"It does not matter to whom she was born to; she is still a child of evil."

Paige sighed. "Please take her in. Just until we vanquish the guys that are after her. Please?"

The Elder sighed. "We will on one condition."

"Name it."

"Leo is the one who looks after her. She can stay, she will be safe, but Leo is to look after her while you are gone."

"Done… Leo!"

Leo orbed in. "Prestyn! You saved her!" Leo smiled from ear to ear but wiped it off his face when he sensed something was still wrong.

"Yeah we did, but Cole is still on the loose. You need to keep her up here and keep an eye on her because the Elders won't."

"No problem. I'll bring the boys and Phoebe up here too." Leo orbed out.

"Momma… Where's my momma? I want to see her!" Prestyn wailed. "I want to see her!"

"Sweetheart you can't right now."

"Why?"

"Because she's busy. But you can see her soon angel, I promise. But for now, you need to stay with Chris, Wyatt and Uncle Leo."

Prestyn shook her head rapidly. "No. No! I don't want to – he'll be like the bad man. Please don't make me stay wif him Auntie Paige, please." Leo orbed back in with the boys and Phoebe.

"Prestyn!" Chris and Wyatt shouted.

"All right, go and figure out how to vanquish Cole and I'll keep her safe up here with the boys and uh… um…"

"Phoebe. Remember? My name is Phoebe," Little Phoebe answered.

"Yeah."

Leo went to take Prestyn out of Paige's hands and she started to squeal and cry. "No, he'll hurt me! Don't make me stay wif him, please! Please Auntie Paige!"

"Sweetie, look at me." Paige guided her face gently towards her own. "You need to be a big girl for Auntie Paige. Uncle Leo isn't going to hurt you, I promise sweetheart."

"But he's a big man like the bad man… He'll hurt me!"

"No he won't Prestyn," Chris spoke. "He's my daddy and Wyatt's daddy and your uncle, and he loves us and he won't hurt us, he wants to keep us safe." Chris emphasized this by nodding his head. Wyatt agreed with his little brother by nodding his head as well.

"Stay wif me. Please Auntie Paige!"

"Hey, hey, hey," Paige eased. "Are big girls scared?" Prestyn shook her head 'no'. "No they're not, and are you a big girl?" Prestyn nodded her head. "Look at him." Prestyn look at her uncle. "That's Uncle Leo. He's not bad like that other man. Uncle Leo loves you and he wants to keep you safe from the bad man, and I want keep you safe too, so does Aunt Piper and your mommy. But if you want us to get rid of the bad man, you need to stay here with Uncle Leo, and the boys." Little Phoebe cleared her throat. "And, uh Phoebe too."

"But I'm scared."

"I'll protect you Prestyn. Remember when I said that?" Wyatt said. Prestyn nodded. "Stay here and I'll protect you. Daddy doesn't have to come near us or touch you; he just has to watch you. But I can protect you."

Prestyn caught her breath and let out a little yelp before slowly nodding her head and getting out of Paige's grasp. She stood next to Wyatt and held his hand.

"Good girl, angel." Prestyn walked over to her niece and kissed her forehead. "I won't be long. Uncle Leo will bring you down when I tell him to, okay, angel?" Prestyn slowly nodded her head. "Okay." She turned to the boys. "You two," she pointed to them. "You look after her and protect her okay?" Leo and Wyatt nodded.

"What can I do?" Little Phoebe asked.

"You want to help out, huh?"

"Yes."

"You can help the boys protect Prestyn okay? And Leo? You keep and eye on her," she spoke in a low voice. Paige orbed out.

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**I hope that was up to your standards ladies and gentlemen :) Please dont forget to hit that little review button, it will make meso happy:):)**


	14. 12: gone

**I am so sorry that i have not updated in a while, i just got really sidetracked with trying to find a job and a life and TRYING to update - this chapter was really hard to complete, and then when i was on a roll i couldn't stop and it became too long, so then i cropped it off right at the end!**

**anyway, i hope this is up to your guys standards, and i hope i get some reviews out of this - so people, hit that little 'go' button down the bottom of the page there! Go, now! **

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_Chapter twelve_

Paige rematerialized into the attic of the manor, right behind the _Book of Shadows_. She opened the hard cover of the book and felt energy surge through her body. Looking through the _Book of Shadows_ often charged her adrenaline, thus giving her the energy she needed to survive attack and lack of sleep.

She hesitated on calling Piper for help as she knew that once Piper entered the attic the two of them detour on to bitching about the Elders, and they could not afford to do that even though Prestyn was safe in the arms and watchful eyes of those 'Up There'; but it didn't mean that Cole wouldn't find her and take her again. They had to get rid of him – whether they had the Power of Three or not.

Paige sighed. She knew she had to let her sister know she was home and she also needed help and a second opinion. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Piper! I'm back!"

Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs. Piper appeared in the doorway of the attic with hands poised on hips and a raised eyebrow. A facial expression of anger was unmistakable. Paige felt intimidated by this look and gesture, and quickly began explaining on behalf of the Elders.

"In all honesty Piper, you _were_ a little forceful and –"

"And what?" Piper spat, cutting Paige off, striding into the attic, standing opposite her sister with the _Book of Shadows_ between them both. Paige opened her mouth to answer when Piper cut her off again. "On second thought," she began, holding a hand up to silence her sister, "_don't_ tell me. We don't have the time to argue right now."

Paige rolled her eyes at her sister's melodramatic nature.

"In any case, they've agreed to keep her up there, which will give us time to recuperate and plan."

Piper slowly shook her head. "What's the catch? They wouldn't all of a sudden change their opinions of her."

"Just a little persuasion…" Paige hesitated and added quickly, "and Leo has to look after her."

Piper looked at her little sister with anguish. "And you stupidly agreed."

Paige felt a pang of hurt, and started to defend herself. "No… No I didn't stupidly agree. It was either that or they wouldn't take her in. I don't see how you think I was being stupid…" To Piper's (and Paige's) surprise, Paige's defense was quite mellow.

"They have our in-house-healer," Piper growled. "What happens if we get injured, Paige?" Piper's voice rose.

"Who said anything about him not being allowed to orb down to help us?" Paige defended.

"So then who will look after Prestyn?" Piper snapped.

"Chris, Wyatt, Phoebe…" Piper let out a shrill laugh. "What!" Paige let out. She was getting sick of Piper's behavior.

"You're going to leave three kids under the age of twelve to look after a kid who is under _five?_!"

"I'm sure the elders would help."

Piper rolled her eyes less then subtly and grunted. She shot daggers at her baby sister. "You are so naïve," she spat.

Paige felt another pang of hurt. Tears began to sting her eyes, but she kept them back. "Didn't you say that we don't have the time to fight?"

Piper sighed. "I'm panicking. When I panic, I stress, when I stress, I'm blunt, when I'm blunt, I'm harsh!"

"And rude – especially to your sister whose stress level is exactly the same as yours, but I'm handling it better!" Paige snapped. She was tired of being attacked.

Piper jumped at her sister's outburst and realized how she was behaving. "Paige," Piper reasoned.

Paige shook her head as a single tear fell down her porcelain-like face. "Save it. We'll finish it later. What's more important is vanquishing Cole."

There was silence through the attic as Paige and Piper stared at one another, not knowing what to do, how to act, or what to say. Paige began to finger the pages of the _Book of Shadows_, bending the corners back and forth before realizing she was defacing it and stopping herself.

"So…" Piper began in a low murmur; unsure of how she was going to finish her sentence now that she had started. "Any, uh… Any ideas? You know, on how to _try_ to vanquish him?"

Paige stared through Piper before taking her question into consideration. She looked up in thought. "We could strip him of his powers, rendering him human thus making it easier to kill him – you know, blow him up, or dip an athame into poison, throw some energy balls at him, come up with a spell – there are so many ways right now…"

"And not saying that they aren't good, but by stripping him of his powers he _is_ human… which means his body won't disappear; it will stay there, a big bloody mess. If it even looks like foul play, then we're up for murder."

"Only if we don't hide the body – and we can get Leo to do that no problem."

Piper shook her head. "No. There's got to be another way."

"There is no other way Piper! This is how it has to be. We're not sending in Chris for the kill; we _can't_ send in Wyatt or Prestyn because they don't have active powers and the Charmed Ones' powers are useless against him. Rendering him human is the only way!

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"It's the only way," Leo argued.

"It is _not_ the only way, Leo," the Elder returned.

Leo was trying to argue that he needed to be back down on Earth with Piper and Paige so if something happens he would be down there and could heal or help them. He was going to leave Wyatt and Phoebe in charge of Prestyn and Chris– the Elders would barely have to step in. But the Elder arguing against Leo's plea was reluctant to the idea as the agreement was that _Leo_ was to look after Prestyn – not Wyatt or Phoebe or Chris.

"Please," Leo pleaded.

"You will go if needed, not a moment before that." With that, the Elder turned and walked away.

Leo sighed and shook his head. He returned to the children. Chris was playing quietly by himself with a few toys, near the others; Phoebe was sitting with Prestyn and Wyatt, absent mindedly looking around the area of which she was in and surveying her surroundings with caution. Prestyn held on to Wyatt's hand with all her might, fearing the worst.

A few moments later, another Elder approached Leo and beckoned him away from the children. Leo got up, quickly glanced at them, and made his way over, hesitantly; not knowing what to expect, even though he knew the Elder personally.

The Elder's face was solemn. "Leo."

"Xerxes. Something the matter?"

"Your plea to Adrian has made its way through here quite quickly…"

Leo raised his brow, a slight expression of annoyance on his face. "So I see," he stated as numerous White Lighters and Elders bowed their heads and chattered softly, every so often peering up to look at Leo and gasp at the children, not knowing who the half demon, half witch child was, and walking away quickly, further away from them.

"Why do you want, so badly, to return to the Charmed Ones?"

Leo scoffed. He could not believe that Xerxes was even asking that question. "I take it you haven't been watching what's been going on in the past seventy-two hours?"

Xerxes let out a little laugh. "I have been watching. I was one of the many that sent the premonition to the child – what I am simply asking is, why do you want to go back down there? When the deal was, strictly, that you look after the demon child."

"Okay, you know what?" Leo was beginning to get worked up. His face hardened. "She's not _just_ a demon, she's part witch too – part _Charmed One_ no less, and you're treating her like she is the ultimate threat… She's only five!"

"She is a child of ultimate good and ultimate evil. Those two should never be mixed!"

"But they have, and she is completely and totally normal. She thinks her power is part of the normality of our lives! Why can't you understand that?"

"Because she has yet to discover her path and her powers and to what extent they can be used."

"All the more reason to keep her up here until Cole is dead."

"Cole will not rest until he has the girl, and will not die until the power of three has been restored," Xerxes simply stated.

Prestyn watched and listened to her uncle and the man in the white robe talking nonsense. She was wedged between Wyatt and little Phoebe and felt somewhat safe, but still scared at the same time.

Leo and Xerxes continued their conversation.

"You're right. Cole _won't_ rest until he has Prestyn, and he will _kill_ anyone who gets in his way. I want to be down there in case Piper or Paige are hurt; if they're too badly hurt, they might not be able to call for me, and I don't want to risk that." Leo was growing tired of this argument.

Xerxes places a hand on Leo's shoulder. "I understand your anger, Leo, I really do. But there is no swaying Adrian's mind. You _will_ stay up here until instructed otherwise."

Leo sighed, but nodded his head, returning to the kids yet again. He squatted down in front of Prestyn, who had now calmed down upon the sight of Leo. She looked up at him with her big hazel eyes, which were glossed over with tears.

"It's okay sweetheart, we'll get you back safe and sound and back to your mommy." He brushed her cheek lightly and got up to check on Chris.

Wyatt looked at his baby cousin. "Are you okay, Prestyn?" He asked when he heard a sniffle coming from her direction.

Prestyn nodded her head, but continued to sniffle. She looked over to Leo who was playing with Chris who was seemingly on his own. "Uncie Leo…"

Leo looked up, picked Chris up and, walked over to Prestyn. He set Chris down next to Phoebe and squatted down in front of Prestyn.

"Where is my mommy, and my Auntie Paige, and my Aunt Piper? Why am I here? I want to see my mommy! Why can't I see my mommy?" Tears streamed down her little face, her body shaking from emotion.

"Hey that's a good question," little Phoebe piped up. "Why _are_ we here? I mean you and your family may be used to this freak show, but _I'm_ not. I want to go home now. I'm ready to go home now." She sulked and crossed her arms, staring daggers at Leo.

"Look you guys, it's not safe to go back home yet. The bad man is still back there, and he might come back for you…" Leo thought that it might not have been the best way to go about it, considering that they were only children, and he should have been more subtle about it, but if he was, he would only encounter more questions.

"Which one of us?" Phoebe countered.

"_Any_ of you. This is why you all need to stay up here, so that you all end up safe and sound."

"But what about Mom and Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige?" Wyatt asked.

Phoebe cocked her head to the side with a raised brow – _Aunt Phoebe?_

"They're big girls, they will look after themselves and each other."

Wyatt crossed his arms over his eight-year-old chest. "I heard what you were saying to that man about the bad man…"

"Wyatt, what did I tell you about eaves dropping?"

"He wasn't eaves dropping, we all heard," Phoebe retorted.

"Hey, watch your tone," Leo eased. He felt a tiny tug on the sleeve of his shirt and he looked down to Prestyn.

"Uncie Leo… I have to tinkle," She whispered.

Leo tried to stifle a laugh at his niece's vocabulary, and nodded his head. He had asked if the others needed to come with him, and he wasn't surprised when they all needed to go too – they had been there for a while; 6 hours and counting.

Chris and Wyatt went first. He orbed them out to the manor, careful to dodge Piper and Paige, and orbed them back in, coming back for the girls and trying, once again, to dodge Piper and Paige, which seemed easy as they were in the attic.

Phoebe and Leo were waiting for Prestyn so they could go back 'Up There'. It was taking a seemingly long time for Prestyn to come out. Leo knocked on the door.

"Prestyn…" He pressed his ear to the door, waiting for an answer. There was nothing. Maybe she didn't hear him? He knocked on the door again and spoke a little louder "Prestyn?" Again there was no answer. "Uh-oh… Not good, definitely not good…"

Little Phoebe looked at Leo. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"No response… Look, do me a favor; see if she's in there…" Leo was starting to panic now – could Cole have possibly known that she would be back? Could he have set a trap?

"I beg your pardon?" Little Phoebe blinked.

"Do it, it's an emergency, I need to know if she is in there," he persisted in a firm voice.

Phoebe rolled her eyes and sighed. She knocked on the door, before turning the door knob slowly and opening the door just as slowly. She peeked in and saw only an empty bathroom. She opened the door all the way and walked inside. "She's not here…" She raised her arms, bending them at the elbow, palms up.

Leo walked in and looked around. There seemed to be no sign of struggle but, then again, Cole could just appear and reappear, just like Prestyn, so of course there would be no sign of struggle. But if it was an attack, Prestyn would have screamed.

"Okay, you're going back, now."

"Home?" Phoebe's face lit up.

"No. Back with the boys. We'll get you home later."

Before Phoebe could protest, he grabbed her by the arm and orbed her 'Up There', before orbing straight into the attic. This news was going to be extremely hard to break – to Paige and Piper, _and_ to Wyatt and Chris.

Piper and Paige looked up from the _Book of Shadows_ and couldn't help the shocked expression that crossed their faces when they saw Leo appear in the attic.

"Leo, what're you doing here?" Piper asked with an eyebrow raised.

Leo put his head in his hands and rubbed at his face. He sighed. "There is no easy way to break this to you, so I'm just gonna say it," he paused. Paige made an impatient motion with her hands telling him to continue. "Prestyn's missing."

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**Did ya like it? Did ya hate it? Did you read it? Let me know be reviewing**


	15. 13: showtime

**As per usual ladies and gentlemen, I DO NOT OWN CHARMED - no Piper, no Phoebe, no Paige or Prue or Leo or Cole sob**

**I do, however, own Prestyn and I am proud of that :)**

**Anyways, sorry about the delayed update and sorry if this chappie laggs... Oh and i tried to do the big confrontational scene as best i could, so i hope it is okay. I hope, overall, this chappie is okay... :)**

**Peace... **

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_Chapter thirteen_

Piper froze Leo.

Paige looked at Piper incredulously. "What did you do that for!" She yelled with her hands on her hips. Paige was getting annoyed with the fact that in the past three days she had had to play the eldest sister. She was the youngest, she was the one who should have been throwing her fits and the one to be put in her placeand Piper should have been the one throwing the fit for Paige throwing a fit; but not in this family. Paige had come to grips with that.

"This is ridiculous!" Piper yelled shrilly. She put a hand to her forehead. "How many times in three days can Prestyn be taken from us!"

Paige had had enough. She pushed Piper hard fromthe shoulder, and Piper stumbled backwards. "Unfreeze him! How else are we supposed to know what's happened?" She demanded.

Piper, shocked at the action of her youngest sister, pushed Paige back. "We already know what happened! She got kidnapped – again!"

Paige faced her sister with a scowl, andbrought her face towards Piper's – noses inches away from each other. "Unfreeze him, _now_!"

Piper wanted to challenge her sister but, instead, grunted and did as told. With a roll of her eyes and a flick of her wrist, Leo was unfrozen.

Paige wasted no time. "How, Leo? How is she missing – again?" Paige snapped at him.

"I don't know, I don't know." Leo started pacing the attic. "She was in the bathroom, and then she wasn't."

This baffled the three of them. Piper let out an exasperated sigh and walked over to the map and the crystal and started to scry for her.

Paige rolled her eyes and let out a breath. "That is not going to work Piper. Cole wouldn't be that stupid as to go to the same place again, and he has probably found a way to strengthen the cloak around wherever it is they are… So we need a better plan than…" Paige trailed off when she saw the crystal drop down. She looked at Piper and waited for the 'I told you so'.

"She's in the abandoned building. It dropped down on 7th," she confirmed monotonously.

Paige was particularly shocked at this confirmation. "Again? No, no, no – it's a trap. It's got to be a trap. Cole would not take her and keep her in the same place she was before."

"She has a point," Leo agreed.

"Well it's where the crystal dropped," Piper stated simply. Paige thought about her last statement and looked at Piper with an evident glisten in her eyes. "What?" Piper snapped. Finding it highly inappropriate that Paige was looking even slightly happy.

"It's not a trap." Leo and Piper looked at Paige oddly. Think about it –"

"Thought about it," Piper cut Paige off. "I've come to the conclusion that you're nuts."

"Shut up and listen!" Paige snapped. "He wants us dead for foiling his plan… why would he set a trap? Why wouldn't he just come for us? And why would he take her from here without going through us? Something doesn't add up…"

"What are you getting at?" Leo asked with a quizzical look.

"What if he didn't come to her, but she went to him?"

"That doesn't make sense," Piper spat. "She's petrified of him, why would she go back to him?"

"Because she knows that by giving herself to him, it's the only way to save Phoebe," Leo answered, finally coming into the realization.

"Okay now what are _you_ getting at?" Piper faced her husband.

"I was speaking to one of the Elders, and I'm thinking that maybe Prestyn overheard my conversation."

"Say it with me people," Piper mused. "Long shot," she enunciated.

Leo shook his head. "No it's not. I snapped at Wyatt for eaves dropping on the conversation I had with the Elder and Phoebe came to his defense saying that it was hard to not hear it. Prestyn probably heard and understood what we were on about and schemed a plan in her head," Leo thought out loud.

"So she wasn't kidnapped again, she's given herself up willingly!" Paige let out.

"Well there's no question about Prestyn being Phoebe's… She takes stupid risks, just like her mother," Piper mumbled.

Paige looked at her in shock. "If our mother was in danger from a demon, would you do everything you could to save her?" She stared daggers into the eldest witch's brown eyes. Paige's own brown eyes clouded in anger.

Piper knew that her previous statement came out wrong. She rectified herself. "I was just making a point that she definitely is a Halliwell."

"Then just say that next time!" Paige snapped.

An awkward silence spilled over the attic. Everyone was tired so it was inevitable that the girls would be getting on each other's nerves, but neither of them thought they would be so affected by the other's remarks and comments.

Leo broke the silence hesitantly. "We should save Prestyn…"

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Prestyn's five year old mind recognized the space she was in, which meant she had shimmered to the right place. Deep down she knew she would get a timeout for what she had done, but all that mattered was keeping her mommy safe and alive. She decided to walk into the centre of the floor and maybe someone would notice her and take her to the Bad Man.

"You!" Colegrowled from the shadows. Prestyn yelped and jumped. He strode towards her.

"Leave her alone!" Piper screeched mid-materialization. Cole stopped and turned around. Paige and Leo had to hold Piper back as she was about lunge on to Cole.

"Auntie Piper, go away!" Prestyn screamed, and willingly walked toward Cole.

"Pres –" Paige didn't get to finish calling for her niece as Cole hit her with a low voltage energy ball, throwing her across the room; only rendering her unconscious. Piper squatted down to feel a pulse – it was there. Prestyn squeezed her eyes shut to avoid seeing anything she didn't want to see. Her hands over her eyes as though they would shield her.

"Paige…" Leo tended to her and began to heal her.

Cole shook his head with a smirk and sighed. "I can't let you do that, Leo." He hit him with a low voltage energy ball and he, too, fell unconscious.

"Leo," Piper murmured.

"They're not dead Piper, I don't need them… I just don't need them or you to foil my plan. I only want the girl… or Phoebe… or both…"

"Always wanting what you can't have."

Cole hit her with an energy ball, but this one was a high voltage one, hurling her body straight up through the stair case and up to the second level of the building. splitting her stomach open, causing blood to stream out of the open wound. "I _was_ going to spare you, Piper, but as usual, your smart mouth didn't help you." He turned towards Prestyn, and began advancing on her. "Now as for you…" He walked over to her and picked her up so her face was level to his. He locked eyes with her and started the failed chant.

'_Apud hic nocte et apud hora,_

_Nos vocatio ex vetustas potestus_

_Dimitto lucrum de suus anima_

_Mando malus altus intus suus exosso'_

Black fog emerged and began entering Prestyn's body. She began shaking uncontrollably; her eyes were turning from hazel to black; the color was draining from her body.

'_Apud hic nocte et apud hora,_

_Nos vocatio ex vetustas potestus_

_Dimitto lucrum de suus anima_

_Mando malus altus intus suus exosso'_

Prestyn didn't like what was happening to her, the feeling was awful. She didn't know that this was going to happen to her. She wanted to save her mommy, but she was hurting so much. She was trying to be brave, but it wasn't working. She started to cry and pushed Cole's face away from hers – but with Prestyn being so little, and Cole being so big, his face barely moved at all.

'_Apud hic nocte et apud hora,_

_Nos vocatio ex vet –'_

Cole started to convulse, his chant cut short. Both Prestyn and Cole were raised at least three feet off the ground. Neither of them knew what the Hell was going on but they both knew it was coming from Prestyn – blue static electricity was streaming out of her hands and straight into Cole's head. After several minutes, they both fell to the ground, Prestyn landing on top of Cole's limp body.

"What the Hell was that?" Paige muttered. She had woken up in time to see the show. Paige's thoughts were interrupted by the ear-piercing shriek that came from Prestyn's direction. She orbed over to her niece and scooped her up and held her tight, letting her niece cry inconsolable tears into her shoulder. She walked over to Leo and shook him. Slowly he started to stir and woke up wondering what had happened. "Cole hit us with an energy ball."

"Piper?" He asked, drowsily.

Paige looked around. "Piper?" She called. "Piper!" No answer. "Sense her."

Leo closed his eyes and concentrated. "I can't concentrate. Get Prestyn out of here, go up to the Elders, I'll meet you there."

Paige orbed out without hesitation.

Leo closed his eyes and sensed for his wife. He felt her – barely. She was in pain, and weak. He orbed to the second story and saw Piper lying in a pool of her own blood. He wasted no time in healing her. "Come on baby, wake up… Wake up…" Leo had his hands over Piper's wound, but she was not healing right away. His hand shot down for a pulse. It was there – it was weak, but it was there. "Come on Piper…" Piper's wound began to slowly disappear. The blood that was spilled vanished and her clothing was mended, along with her wound. She groaned and her eyes slowly fluttered open. She looked around, as though trying to rememeber what had happened. She sat up fast.

"I'm gonna kill that malicious son of a bitch!" She got up and started to walk down to the first floor, when she was pulled back by Leo – which was probably a good thing, considering the stairs had been destroyed when Piper was sent flying through them. She looked back at Leo with a glare.

"It's already been done."

Piper looked at him with confusion. She pulled him up to his feet. "What? How?"

"I… I don't know how. I was still out."

Piper looked back down and saw the lifeless body of Cole Turner. She couldn't help the grin that formed on her face. _You deserve everything you get you bastard_.

Upon thinking that, the section of the floor in which Cole was on opened up in a ring of fire and Cole fell through it. The floor pieced itself back together and Piper's grin grew wider. She felt arms wrap around her body and she looked up to the person they belonged to.

Leo kissed Piper's forehead and looked at her with a grin. "We've got to go. Prestyn and Paige orbed out to the Elders. Prestyn was hysterical."

Piper nodded, leaning back into Leo's embrace and felt herself materialize out of the building.

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**Only a few more chapters to go guys. Hit that little purplish-bluish button and you'll get an update. That's how this works - kinda like an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth... A review for a review and an update for an update...**

**Shut up Kylie shakes head**

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	16. 14: no rest for the wicked

**Hey all **

**Bet you guys didnt think you'd get an update this quick... Thank you for the last couple of reviews during the chapter before this one... This chappie is the start of the resolution toLittle Phoebe going home (towards the end) and the trials and tribulations of trying to get Prestyn to trust Paige long enough to get back to the manor...Please R R and Ethis chappie... make a girl happy...**

**Love you all.**

**Peace out**_**

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**Chapter fourteen**

Leo and Piper rematerialized into the heavens andscanned the area for Paige.

"Mom…ma! I… want… my… Mom…ma!"

They both heard Prestyn hiccup. Leo ventured toward the sound and saw Paige and Wyatt trying to get close enough to Prestyn to stop her running away, and Chris and little Phoebe looking rather annoyed at the commotion.

Since Paige and Prestyn had arrived, it had been non-stop tantrum from Prestyn…at least in the eyes of Chris and little Phoebe. Prestyn wouldn't let anyone near her to console her, all she wanted was her mother, and Paige couldn't blame her after all she had been through. It was too much for a child… Too much for anyone really… and this wasPaige's life everyday – willingly.

"Daddy! Mommy!" Chris exclaimed as he saw them walking towards him. He got up and ran over to them both. "Let's go home… Can we go home?" He was tugging at his father's shirt.

Leo looked at Piper. "They're all safe now… His gone…" He mumbled for only Piper to hear.

Piper nodded. "Then let's go home…" She looked at Paige and Prestyn and corrected herself. "Take the kids home, I'll be home with Paige and, hopefully, Prestyn soon." Leo nodded.

"Wyatt, Phoebe." They made their way over – Wyatt more reluctant than little Phoebe.

"Dad, I can't go. Prestyn's sad…" Wyatt said, his eyebrows furrowing in.

"Wyatt, Mommy and Aunt Paige are going to do the best they can to make Prestyn feel better… At the moment we need to get you and Chris bathed, fed, and rested and then we need to help Phoebe…" He stopped short not knowing what to say. Little Phoebe, Wyatt and Chris looked at him oddly. "We need to make Phoebe better too."

"But I don't feel bad…" Little Phoebe objected.

"We need to try and get you home."

"Finally!" Little Phoebe let out exasperatedly.

Leo rolled his eyes and orbed out with Wyatt, Chris and little Phoebe, leaving Piper and Paige with Prestyn.

Prestyn hugged herself in the furthest corner of the room. Paige faced Piper with a determined stare. "Distract her. I'm orbing for her."

"And then what's gonna happen when she shimmers out of your grasp?" Piper asked folding her arms over her chest.

"I'll go with her because I'll be holding her," Paige answered in a matter of fact tone.

"Not if she shimmers out before you can orb to her," Piper countered with a cocky grin. Paige glared at her. "Besides, it won't make her trust us anymore if we go for the sneak approach. We want her to be able to trust us okay?" Piper slowly began to walk towards Prestyn, who had her head on her knees and her arms around her legs. Her tiny body shaking uncontrollably through sobs and fear. Piper approached Prestyn and crouched down in front of her. "Prestyn, honey…" She stopped when Prestyn whimpered and held herself tighter. "Sweetie, it's okay, you're safe…"

"I… want… my… mommy…" She hiccupped.

Piper stretched out her arms to hug her but, when she touched Prestyn, she jumped and shimmered to the opposite side of the room.

Piper stood up and strode over to Paige. Her face showing confusion. "What the Hell is the matter with her?" She demanded.

Paige shrugged with an apologetic look. Then she remembered the events from the warehouse. "Prestyn killed him."

"Who?" Piper asked shocked.

"Cole!" Paige hissed keeping her eye on Prestyn, and keeping her voice to a whisper.

"_She_ killed him?" Piper spat out and pointed at Prestyn. "What… How… _How_?" Piper stammered.

"I don't know how she conjured it, but I saw static electricity coming out of her hands, he started to convulse, and they were, like, three feet off the ground for a few seconds before falling to the floor… Cole's form limp… lifeless…"

"So it would seem that Prestyn has a second power… active and certainly _dangerous._"

"Yeah strong enough to kill Cole, whereas the _Charmed_ powers couldn't."

Piper's eyes widened at the thought. "I did not think of it like that…"

"Phoebe is _not_ gonna be pleased…" Paige sighed. "Look, go home to your family, I know the boys will be dying to spend some time with you, and we need to figure out how to get Phoebe back because she will not come with us unless she knows she has a mommy to go home to."

Piper thought about it. Paige was right – Prestyn wouldn't go back home unless she knew she was going back to her mother. Piper sighed and nodded. "If you need help –"

"I'll come home and orb you up," Paige finished for her.

Piper nodded. "Paige…" Piper began. She placed a hand on her baby sister's upper arm and looked up into her sister's dark brown eyes. "I'm sorry."

Paige let a small smile spread across her lips. "I'm sorry too." She rubbed Piper's arm for assurance as Piper smiled at her. Paige nodded her head before putting her hand out to Piper. "Home!" She ordered. She watched as the eldest Charmed One disappeared in a flurry of white and blue orbs.

Paige sighed. _This is _not_ gonna be easy!_

_--------_

Piper rematerialized in the children's bedroom.

"Mommy!" Chris and Wyatt screamed.

Piper grinned from ear to ear and crouched down on the floor with her arms open wide for her sons to run to. "My boys… Thank God you guys are safe," she murmured as she hugged them with every ounce of strength in her body.

"Hey," Leo greeted quietly. He walked further into the room and kissed Piper on the head and messed up both Chris and Wyatt's hair.

"Hey yourself," she beamed.

"Mommy," Chris began slowly. "Why… How come you _orbed_?" His little eyebrows furrowing in.

"Yeah, mom. How come you orbed?" Wyatt echoed.

"Auntie Paige sent me home."

"Is Prestyn still sad?" Wyatt asked looking to the floor, feeling somewhat guilty that he wasn't there with her.

"Yeah sweetheart she is. But she won't be for too much longer…" _At least I hope not_. She added quietly to herself.

"She made my head hurt…" Chris mumbled with a frown, crossing his arms over his little chest.

"Chris…" Leo warned. Chris looked down to the floor.

Wyatt pointed at Chris with a little smirk.

"Wyatt…" Piper warned. Wyatt sulked.

"Come on you two," Leo began as he ushered them towards their beds. "Off to bed. It's _way_ past your guys' bedtime."

"Aww dad," Wyatt whined. "Can't we stay up a little longer? What about Prestyn?"

"I'll let you know when Prestyn gets back, okay." Leo compromised.

Wyatt eyed his father carefully. "Do you promise?"

Leo squatted down to Wyatt's height and looked him in the eye. "I promise buddy."

Wyatt nodded. This was seemingly good enough for him. He crawled into bed and let Leo tuck him in.

"Mommy?" Chris squeaked.

Piper walked over to Chris and hoisted him on to her hip. "What's the matter, sweet boy?" She brushed his hair out of his face.

"The… the Bad Man… What about the Bad Man?"

"He's gone, honey."

"Did you vanquish him, mommy?" Chris's attitude lightened up and a big grin lit his face.

Piper smiled back at her son. "Yup. He got vanquished good."

"Yes!" Chris hissed and punched a tiny fist into the air; his grin not disappearing. Piper walked him over to his bed and watched as he scrambled under the covers. She tucked him in, kissed both boys goodnight and walked downstairs hand in hand with Leo.

"Can _I_ go to bed now?" Piper complained as she cuddled into Leo.

Leo chuckled.

"No you can't," a little voice snapped.

Piper rolled her eyes and groaned. She turned around and saw Little Phoebe frowning, with her arms crossed over her chest. She turned back to Leo. "Let me freeze her overnight, please, please, please," Piper begged in a whisper.

"We've gotta get our Phoebe back, Piper."

Piper sighed, closed her eyes and counted to three. "Go and see what you can findoutabout getting our Phoebe back… I'll keep her occupied." Leo looked at her in disbelief; knowing full well that his wife would freeze her the second he left. "I promise," Piper swore.

Leo kissed her softly on the lips. "I'll be back as soon as I can." He orbed out.

Piper turned around to face her little, little sister with a soft glare.

"What?" Little Phoebe half-snapped with a raised brow and arms crossed.

"I thought we were over the 'I hate you, you hate me thing'…"

Phoebe kept her glare hard at Piper. "All I want is to go home. I've had enough of being here; I miss my sisters and my Grams." Her voice quivered with emotion.

Piper sighed and let her guard down. She walked over to the kitchen table and pulled out two chairs; one for little Phoebe and one for herself. Phoebe hesitantly took the seat and sat down.

"Phoebe, we're trying to figure out ways to get you home, and I promise you, we're gonna get you back, but we don't know how long that is going to take," Piper stated as simply and as gently as she could. She took a breath and continued. "But for the moment, you just need to develop a little patience. Do you think you can handle that?" Little Phoebe looked at Piper skeptically. "Yeah you're right. That's impossible." Little Phoebe sighed.

Blue and white lights filled the kitchen and Leo evolved from then.

"You're back!" Piper and little Phoebe let out. They looked at each other and, for the first time in a few days, they laughed at the sudden simultaneous outburst.

"And you're both okay," he beamed, sounding more surprised than happy.

Little Phoebe raised her eyebrow. "Why wouldn't we be?"

Leo thought on his toes. "Oh… Just you know, with our freaky family, you never know what could happen…"

Little Phoebe nodded, while Piper glared at him, open-mouthed. Leo shrugged at her.

Piper sighed. "What did you find out?"

"The Elders are gonna help in a big way, and then it is all up to her sub-conscious."

Piper raised an eyebrow, identical to that of little Phoebe's. "How?" She asked.

"What are you guys talking about?" Little Phoebe questioned with a glare.

"We're talking about how we're getting you home… What did I say about patience?"

"That it was impossible," little Phoebe answered honestly.

Piper rolled her eyes at herself. "Yeah I walked _right_ into that one…" She turned her attention back to her husband. "How did you say they were going to help out?"

"I didn't… They're going to send her one hell of a premonition…" He answered, not even bothering to cover it up.

"What's a prem-o-ni-tion?" Little Phoebe asked sounding it out.

Leo and Piper looked at each other. "It's a… Uh…" Piper tried.

"Well… It's kinda like… um… a… a sneak preview…" Leo finished.

"Oh…" she nodded.

Piper looked at her husband incredulously. "What the hell was that?" Piper hissed through gritted teeth. Leo shrugged in answer. "When?"

Before Leo could answer, they were interrupted by a gasp. Piper turned her head sharply to little Phoebe, her head was thrown backward and her eyes were closed. She was gripping to the table so hard, her knuckles were turning white.

_Dad… Bags… Fighting with mom… Walking out… Water… Docks… Camp… Water… Demon... Mom…drowning… she's drowning… Grave stone – Patricia Halliwell… Grams… On top of the stair case… Holding her chest… Falling down the stairs… Hospital room… Doctors… Piper… Prue… Me… Crying… Grave stone – Penelope Halliwell… Attic… Book… Big brown book… Reading… Light…Piper… Person frozen… Piper… Demon exploding… Prue… Demon flying to the other side of a room… Prue… two places at once… Me… Flying… No… Floating… In air… Me…Seeing something in my head…It happens in real life… Piper… Wedding dress… Leo… Tuxedo… Wedding… Me… Cole… Happy… Prue… Broken wall… Piper… Broken wall… Grave stone – Prudence Halliwell… Funeral… Prue's funeral… Girl… Paige… Demon… Orb… Paige orbs… Paige… Our house… Lights…Demon… Demon who killed Prue… Dead… Paige… Prue's old room… Moving in… The Source… Me… Piper… Paige… Source… Dead Source… Cole… Source… Cole is the new Source… Me… Cole… Wedding… Me… Cole… Dark wedding… Evil wedding… Piper… Paige… Against Cole… Me… Against Cole…Piper… Paige… Me… Against Cole… Cole… Dead… We killed him… Me… Pregnant… Birth… Girl… Prestyn… Prestyn… Bigger… About four or five… Cole… Alive… Prestyn… Gone… Prestyn… Saved… Prestyn… Back with Cole… Prestyn… Cole… Prestyn killing Cole…_

Little Phoebe fell of her chair collapsing into an unconscious state, as pale as Paige.

"What the Hell was that?" Piper asked nervously as she got out of her chair and squatted down next to little Phoebe. Leo was already there before her, healing little Phoebe.

"That was the premonition I was telling you about. That should bring our Phoebe straight through…"

Piper looked at the form lying in front of her and then back at Leo. "Well I still see _little_ Phoebe…"

"Yes, and her mind is still in her Phoebe's time, but she knows everything about our Phoebe's life now."

"And she'll believe it?"

"It's in consecutive order, she should believe it…" He trailed off as little Phoebe started to stir.

Her eyelids fluttered open slowly, and she pulled herself up. "What happened?" She asked drowsily.

"Do you remember anything?" Piper asked gently, helping little Phoebe up.

Little Phoebe turned pale again. "Prestyn?" She let out in a yelp.

"Is safe," Piper assured, letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Big Phoebe was coming through.

Little Phoebe looked from Piper to Leo, got up and ran upstairs, slamming the door shut.

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**Hopefully theuber premonition makes sense... Please tell me if it does or not - it kinda stops after the killing of Cole (Long Live The Queen)and the rest is about Prestyn... please please please tell me what you liked and disliked about the chapter and tell me whether it made sense or not.**

**hit the button - go! go!**


	17. 15: from whence she came

**Well hey again all you fan fiction readers out there! I bet you didn't expect to get TWO chapters in the space of six hours! (give or take lol) I was on a role and decided to keep going... So um, this is the big resolution scene - not giving anything away, just RR&E. Pleasies? LoL, cheers guys... not long to go before it's finished! Then i can start the ONESHOT that follows and the SEQUAL (yes, A SEQUAL!)

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_**Chapter fifteen**_

Both Piper and Leo had tried an umpteenth amount of times to get little Phoebe to open her bedroom door. Piper tried sweet-talking her, lying to her, yelling at her, telling her the truth – nothing. Nothing worked. Piper was getting impatient. It was now sunrise. They had spent an entire twenty-four hours awake. Most of those hours were spent rescuing Prestyn. A small amount was spent trying to get little Phoebe out of her room. Three hours had passed, slowly, by and the poundings on the door had stopped and Piper was now pleading with little Phoebe to open the door – which was hopeless.

"Let me in Phoebe. I know you know what's going on…" There was no reply. Piper stomped her foot with a grunt. "Phoebe I _really_ don't want to have to do the sneak approach…" No comeback. She looked to Leo. He, reluctantly, took her hand and orbed her inside the bedroom, then orbed back out as soon as he rematerialized. "But I will if I have to."

"No fair, using magic…" little Phoebe mumbled. She didn't even seem shocked at the way Piper entered the room.

"Yeah I know… It's really mean, huh?" Piper played. She walked further into the room and sat on the edge of the bed. She looked at little Phoebe, who was picking at her cuticles. _Do all of us Halliwells do that?_

"I don't wanna talk, Piper…"

"So just listen," she said gently. "You can't stay a child forever, Phoebe, you have one of your own to look after; she needs a mom."

Little Phoebe's head snapped up; her big, brown, puppy-like, eyes hardened and glazed over with tears. "I can't be that great of a mother if I got my own daughter kidnapped," she snapped. She looked at Piper; her face softening in the slightest. "You seem to be great at it; I mean you have two kids who love you to death."

"Two kids that are going to be upset that their aunt won't change back, and a five-year-old who is going to be more than devastated that her mommy won't change back," Piper countered.

Little Phoebe thought about Piper's comment before responding.

"I don't like being an adult Piper," she said in a voice so soft, it was barely audible.

Piper had to hold back a scoff. "Phoebe, at that age you couldn't wait to be an adult; do you remember ever saying that to me?"

Little Phoebe, vividly remembering the comment, answered Piper's question, knowing full-well that she was backed into a corner. "I said that to you yesterday."

Piper perked up with a small smile. She made herself more comfortable on the big double bed. "How do you know what being an adult is like anyway? You're technically a kid."

"Doesn't mean that I haven't been surrounded by 'em my entire life," little Phoebe shot back without even needing to think about a comeback. "Too much goes on in the adult world. Don't you ever wish you were still just a kid? Like me?"

Piper thought about her question seriously. "Everyday… but we ascend in age, Phoebe, we don't decrease." Little Phoebe frowned at the comment, knowing that Piper was right, crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. Big Phoebe was definitely in there somewhere, and Piper knew it. "You're cheating life right now, not to mention screwing with it." Little Phoebe gasped at Piper's language with a shocked expression. Piper brushed it off. "Oh Phoebe it's nothing you won't end up saying by the time your in junior high." Little Phoebe rolled her eyes, and kept her arms crossed and the frown on her face. Piper softened her tone and changed her attitude. "Change back, Phoebs. Prestyn needs you," she said as gently as she could.

Little Phoebe shook her head, without even giving the thought a chance. "No. I like being a kid. I like being ten." Her tone was short, blunt and monotonous.

Piper was taken aback. "You're ten?"

"You didn't know?" Little Phoebe was surprised that Piper didn't know how old she was. She had been here for three days and Piper didn't know how old she was? She was 'supposedly' her sister!

Piper seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. "Phoebe, what date is it?" She asked coming out of her daze.

Little Phoebe looked at Piper quizzically. "3rd of March."

Piper shook her head. "Not today's date. What's the date right now, from your time?"

Little Phoebe noted that Piper seemed really interested to know, so she thought back. "It's uh… the 20th of September…"

_September…_ "Do you remember what happened two months before?" Piper didn't want to bring up painful memories, but if it would help to bring her Phoebe back, then she would do what she had to do.

Little Phoebe closed her eyes, fighting the tears that suddenly sprung up. "As clear as glass," she murmured. "Daddy left our lives completely."

Piper was finding herself fighting her own tears as the painful memory erupted. "Why would you want to stay in that world?"

"Because that world doesn't exist here," she said looking up into Piper's eyes. "The arguing doesn't exist…"

Piper was confused. "Is that all you're trying to escape?"

"I'm escaping my future!" Little Phoebe snapped. "I've seen it and I don't want to know all that you know – I don't want to go through all that big Phoebe has gone through!" She yelled at Piper with such force, such passion.

Piper sighed inwardly. "What has grams always taught us, huh? Things happen for a reason; you wouldn't endeavor all that you have if it wasn't for a reason," she tried.

Little Phoebe cocked an eyebrow with a look of displeasure; sick of being interrogated. "And what reason is that?" She spat.

Piper didn't even have to think twice about the answer to that one. "To shape the person you are to us today; caring, loving, a great mother and sister and auntie –"

"But that right there is too much responsibility!" Little Phoebe snapped, cutting Piper off.

Piper was beginning to lose her patience – she was surprised she lasted this long as it was. "Phoebe, you're a strong person who has dealt with life's turmoil," She said firmly. "Life isn't easy – you know it, I know it – everyone knows it." She wasn't getting through to her and she could see it. She tried a different, gentler approach. "All the responsibility isn't just being panned off to you, and thirty year old Phoebe knows this; she knows that I have helped her,herentire life all that I can." Little Phoebe's face began to soften. "If you stay this way you won't be able to encounter all that you have to become the person you are today."

"It's all bad." Little Phoebe's voice came out in a whisper.

Piper began to sympathize with her. She had been down this road way too many times herself. She had to assure little Phoebe that it wasn't. "No. No it is not all bad; there is good to it as well…" She answered quickly – maybe a little too quickly. She hoped it would go unnoticed. She got back to the bigger topic at hands. "But what do you think is going to happen, Phoebe? You think you'll stay a kid forever? It isn't a loophole; you will still get older; and you cannot live your life out in this existence. You _need_ to go back and we need our Phoebe back." Piper's voice was more begging than ordering.

Little Phoebe glared at Piper. "Why? So I can encounter everything she has?" She spat.

Piper was surprised that the girl had so much attitude and rage and suppressed emotions in her. She felt like she barely knew her own sister. Piper shrugged with a small smile. "It's what's known as the circle of life; everything that happens in big Phoebe's life, is going to happen in little Phoebe's life."

Little Phoebe looked into Piper's eyes. Piper noted the sadness in her sister's eyes. Phoebe fought the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. "So mommy is still going to die?" She asked weakly.

As much as Piper didn't want to answer it, she knew that little Phoebe was sure to have seen it in her premonition, so it was best not to lie to her. "Yeah honey," she nodded while answering.

"And daddy is still going to leave and grams is going to die?"

Piper nodded with a sad smile and sad eyes. "And Prue will die; we'll find Paige; you'll fall in love; you'll find some heartache; you'll have a child…" She trailed.

Little Phoebe looked at Piper – struggling to find an answer to her unasked question within everything Piper had mentioned. "Where's the good?"

Piper smiled genuinely. "All the bits in between. When you're in love; when you have Prestyn; getting to know your nephews and getting to know Paige." Piper leaned in closer. "Between you and me, she's not all that bad," she whispered with a wink.

Phoebe smiled at Piper's bad confession of a joke. Her face twisted in question again. "Do I find my prince?" She asked with a hopeful attitude.

Piper smiled sympathetically. "We're still working on that one… but you're happy." She nodded in assurance.

Little Phoebe frowned again, although through her frown, Piper could see confusion. "I can't have been happy if I'm here now."

"That's because something awful happened, but everything is okay now… only big Phoebe doesn't know that; little Phoebe does…"

Little Phoebe stared at Piper and shrugged, looking away. "Big Phoebe doesn't want to come back."

Piper knew too well what little Phoebe was up to. "No, I think little Phoebe just doesn't want to go back and face all the problems she knows is heading her way. She wants to stay in this world because it has already happened."

Little Phoebe sighed. "Can you often read big Phoebe's thoughts too?"

Piper smiled briefly and looked down at the bedspread – this time _Piper_ was avoiding little Phoebe's eyes. "Big Phoebe has gotten very good at shutting me and Paige out," she answered. Her voice full of sadness.

Little Phoebe scoffed. "Even_ I_ know that there is a reason behind that!"

Piper rolled her eyes. "Of course you would, you _are_ Phoebe. You've lived her life out heaps of times before."

Little Phoebe looked at Piper. "Huh?" Her face was scrunched up in confusion.

"Don't think on it too much honey, you'll just get confused."

Little Phoebe shrugged her shoulders. "Well anyway, do you want to know the reason why?"

Piper shook her head. "No. We'll figure it out, or she'll come to us, one of the two."

Cries filled the air around the same time that blue and white lights entered the room. An irritated Paige and a hysterical Prestyn evolved from them. Prestyn was pushing away from Paige with all her might, squealing and crying. Paige clearly didn't know what to do. Piper was surprised that Paige had managed to capture her and get her back to the manor.

"She wants Phoebe. She keeps screeching at everyone who tries to come into contact with her and keeps fighting us off," Paige managed to get out over the top of Prestyn's squealing.

Piper stood up and tried to take hold of Prestyn. "Give her to me." This made Prestyn more hysterical. She batted her tiny fists on Piper's shoulders and tried to push away from her with every ounce of strength she had left in her tiny body.

Little Phoebe looked worried at the hysterical form in Piper's arms. "What's wrong with her?"

Piper locked eyes with little Phoebe. "Some things only a mother can cure." Piper never intended her answer to come out as a snap, but she was now at the end of her tether. "Phoebe I know that you like being a child, but nothing gives you greater joy than being a mother and an auntie!" She sat on her bed trying to rock Prestyn. "Look at this little girl; _your_ little girl; she needs you right now."

Tears spilled down little Phoebe's cheeks. She didn't like this pressure. "I'm scared Piper," she squeaked.

Piper sighed and tried to commiserate with little Phoebe as best she could. "I know you're scared, but you learn as you go along; and you've done great so far, but this little girl needs you _now_." Piper could see her little, little sister caving in. Piper took it down a notch. "One thing that big Phoebe has always said to me, even _before_ she became a mother was that she never wanted to be a _bad_ mother. She never wanted to leave her child, the way our mother left us. You want to know what crosses the line between good mother and bad mother? This, right here. You can be there for your five-yr-old or you can abandon her." Piper's face hardened and serious.

Little Phoebe smiled. "Thank you," she said. As soon as the words left her mouth, golden light surrounded little Phoebe. It disappeared as soon as it came and big Phoebe was sitting in little Phoebe's place. She pulled her daughter out of Piper's arms and stroked her hair, rocking her back and forth. "Shh baby, it's okay I'm back…" She soothed. She looked at her sisters. "I'm back." Piper and Paige smiled and began to walk out of the room when Phoebe stopped them. "If I shut you out, it isn't because I want to hurt you –"

Piper waved her hand to silence her sister. "We'll talk about that later on; just be there for your little girl." Piper and Paige smiled at the scene one last time and walked to their bedrooms to steal some sleep.

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**hit the button! hit the button! hit the button!**

**tell me EVERYTHING you liked or disliked about the chapter - this is one of my favourite chapters so i would REALLY appreciate the feedback, good or bad (preferably good) Peace out...**


	18. 16: dusting

**Really sorry about the late update guys, this would have been up here three days ago but from some reason something was up with the site and wouldnt let me update - oh no! lol well never fear, chapter 16 is up here :D**

**_P3Phoebe_ - There's not long to go until the ending, so keep an eye out for it**

**_KJ_ - i'm really glad you liked the chappie, lol hopefully this one is alright... it's not one of my proudest chapters, but i needed to fill in the between bits... plus it's the resolution... i've already hit the climax of the story, so what goes up has only gotta come down lol**

**Anyways, enjoy dudes and dudettes :)**

**Read and review **

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_Chapter sixteen_

Phoebe's eyes fluttered open. She looked at the alarm clock – eleven a.m. She looked at Prestyn, who was wide awake. "Momma," she smiled. Her voice was hoarse from the crying and screaming she had done.

"Hey baby," Phoebe greeted with a smile. She sat up and pulled her daughter into a hug, kissing her forehead repeatedly. Prestyn giggled; Phoebe had never been happier to hear that sound coming from her daughter's mouth.

"You were sleepin' for a long time," Prestyn acknowledged.

"I was?" Phoebe played. Prestyn nodded sleepily. "And how would know how long I was sleeping for, baby?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

Prestyn had a far away look in her eyes and Phoebe wondered whether it was a look of fear or a look of recollection. "I watched you…"

Phoebe felt guilt run straight through her body – it turned her blood cold. She brushed a few strands of hair away from her daughter's face. "Let's go downstairs." She scooped her daughter up and carried her down the flight of stairs, walking straight into the kitchen. "Morning," she greeted. Five heads snapped up.

"Prestyn!" Wyatt screamed.

"Auntie Phoebe!" Chris squealed.

Both boys came bolting in from the conservatory straight up to Phoebe – who had put Prestyn down – and Prestyn; questions flying all over the place.

"Are you okay? Are you still sad? You don't need to be sad anymore, Mommy killed the Bad Man good!" Wyatt speed talked, failing to notice the Prestyn cowered back into her mother at the mention of the 'Bad Man'.

"Where'd you go? You for gone were for _soooo_ long! And scared, we were scared! You left, why'd leave us for?" Chris had made no sense of his words because of how fast he was talking. All Phoebe could do was laugh at his incoherency.

"Chris and Wyatt, what did daddy and I tell you this morning?" Piper warned.

"Not to pester…" they both mumbled, guiltily looking to the floor. "We're sorry," Wyatt tried.

"Yeah mommy, we're sorry." Chris echoed slowly. "We won't do it again."

Piper tried not to laugh at her sons' antics. "Go and play." Wyatt immediately looked at Prestyn. "She'll be in soon…"

"Once she's had her breakfast," Phoebe finished.

Prestyn tugged at her mother's shirt. "I'm not hungry…"

Phoebe squatted down in front of her. "Baby, you have to eat breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day…" She tried to persuade.

Prestyn shook her head, her eyebrows furrowed inward and her arms over her chest. "Not hungry."

"She is her mother's daughter," Piper mumbled. Paige elbowed the eldest sister.

Phoebe nodded her head reluctantly. "Okay baby. You can go and play, but if you get hungry, you let me know, okay?"

"Okay momma."

"Promise?" Phoebe raised a brow

"I promise momma," she nodded.

"Do you pinky promise?" Phoebe held out her pinky for her daughter to take.

"I pinky promise." She hooked her mother's pinky with her own, and after shaking it, she scampered off into the conservatory with the boys.

Phoebe suddenly worried. "Chris, Wyatt," she called. Both boys came running in. She squatted down in front of them. "Boys, I want you to promise me you won't mention the Bad Man in front of Prestyn okay?"

Both boys nodded. "Okay, aunt Phoebe," they answered simultaneously.

"Good boys." She hugged them both and kissed them both on the forehead. She watched as they scampered off. She stood up and walked over to the coffee.

"There's one already here waiting for you," Piper told her.

Phoebe turned around and noticed that Piper was right. She walked over to the table and sat down in front of the coffee, next to Leo. "Thanks." She brought the mug up to her mouth and let the warm brown liquid slide down her throat.

Piper wanted so desperately to ask Phoebe how she was but she knew the answer. She wondered if Paige wanted to ask the same thing – she stole a glance at her baby sister, and the look on Paige's face confirmed Piper's thoughts. Phoebe's voice threw them both out of their reverie.

"I want you to dust her, Leo."

Three heads snapped up and an eerie silence filled the kitchen. All eyes were on Phoebe.

"Phoebe –" Leo began, but didn't get to continue.

"I mean it, Leo." Phoebe looked at her brother-in-law with a firm yet desperate look. Piper and Paige could only watch on; this, after all, really had nothing to do with them.

"Phoebe," he tried again. "Do you realize what you're asking me to do?"

Phoebe rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't be asking if I didn't know, Leo," she replied through gritted teeth.

Leo tried to grip this conversation. Forming a plausible argument in his mind, he continued. "She is five years old Phoebe, if she is dusted, we risk her losing her memory entirely."

Phoebe looked into Leo's pale green eyes with an intimidating glare. "Then you had better be cautious in the way that you do it then."

Leo began shaking his head apologetically. "Phoebe –"

"Leo, I have never asked you for anything like this before. I'm asking you _please_… Do this – please." Phoebe's eyes grew soft and tired with a facial expression to match. "I don't want her to remember any of this nightmare – especially of her killing Cole – she'd be traumatized by it."

"_She _killed him?" Leo's eyes widened.

"You _know_?" Paige finally spoke, directing her question at her older sister.

Phoebe looked at her youngest sister and then stared into the brown pool of her coffee. "I saw it in my premonition…" The kitchen fell quiet again.

Phoebe barely even moved when a hand reached over and covered her own. She looked at the hand – pale, but not too pale; reddish undertone; long and slender fingers; silver wedding band. The hand belonged to Piper.

Leo's voice cut through the silence. "Are you positive you want me to do this?"

"Yes," Phoebe replied without a second's thought and without lifting her gaze from her coffee.

"And you know the risks, right?"

"I know the risks," she answered, her voice quivering with sadness as tears welled in her eyes.

Another hand covered Phoebe's hand – Paige's. "Sweetie," Paige began gently. "You don't have to do this. We can help you help herto get through it."

"No… You don't understand. She killed someone; and at five years old, she's not gonna know the difference between good and evil. This will haunt her for the rest of her life unless we do something about it." Tears spilled down her cheeks. "I can't let her go through that; I won't," she spoke determinedly.

"Phoebe it will be okay –"

"It will be okay because she is _not_ going to remember doing it!" Phoebe snapped looking Paige straight in the eyes, making her sisters and Leo jump from her outburst.

After a few minutes of another awkward silence, Piper squeezed Phoebe's hand, nodding her head. "Okay."

Phoebe moved her gaze towards the eldest Halliwell. Phoebe saw understanding in her older sister's eyes. It was then that she realized that Piper _had_ in fact been there to help out all she could throughout Phoebe's life. She had always known it; she just always took it for granted and always expected it from her. She knew that Piper knew that Phoebe often took it all for granted too, but, yet, here Piper was still offering everything she could to her younger sister.

Phoebe squeezed Piper's hand back with a small smile.

"When do you want it to happen?" Leo's voice broke through Phoebe's reverie.

Phoebe blinked a few times to come back to reality and looked at Leo. "Uh… the sooner the better. So, um, as soon as you get the dust, we'll settle it and then this nightmare will be over for her."

"For you too, Phoebs," Paige said with a reassuring squeeze of Phoebe's hand.

Phoebe nodded. "For me too…" The lack of realism in her own correction did not go unnoticed by Piper and Paige. The two exchanged worried glances.

"I guess I'll, uh, go and get the dust," Leo started, feeling rather uncomfortable over how many silences took over the kitchen this morning. "It may take a while, considering I may have to convince the Elders of it –"

"Don't ask, just take it and run… Orb… Whatever," Phoebe ordered irritably.

Leo opened his mouth to protest, but on site of his wife's glare, he closed his mouth and orbed out.

Phoebe sighed, though whether it was in aggravation or in relief neither Paige nor Piper knew. She slowly took her hands out of Piper and Paige's grasps and put one of her hands underneath her chin and gripped the coffee mug with the other. Though she was looking directly at her sisters, they both knew she was staring straight through them.

"Sweetie," Piper's voice came in a gentle, hushed tone. "Why don't you go and rest?" She suggested.

"No, I'm okay," Phoebe answered, quickly snapping out of her trance. She brought the mug to her lips and took in a mouthful of the coffee; she didn't even notice that the coffee was now cold.

"Phoebe, you're looking worn out," Paige objected. "You really should –"

"I said I'm okay," Phoebe repeated.

Paige and Piper were stunned at how Phoebe remained absolutely calm over Paige's persistence. Phoebe and Paige never usually butted heads on anything, but when Phoebe said one thing and Paige persisted another, Phoebe was more than likely to snap – this time, however, she didn't. Piper and Paige cast another set of worried glances.

"Okay, well why don't you go up and have a shower?" Piper suggested. "It'll wake you up a bit."

Not in the mood to talk or argue, Phoebe got up and left the kitchen.

Paige waited until she heard a door close before speaking. "Maybe we should think about giving her a dose of memory dust too."

"That's not such a bad idea," Piper concurred. "Leo won't do it though…"

"Who said anything about Leo?" Paige countered with raised eyebrows.

"Paige, do you know how much trouble we could get into?"

"From the Elders?" Paige scoffed. "Pfft, they know that all we do is break the rules, they should be used to it by now…"

"I'm not talking about the Elders…" Piper let on. "I'm talking about Phoebe."

Paige opened her mouth to retort, when tiny footsteps and a whimper interrupted her.

"Momma?" Prestyn's big hazel eyes glazed over with tears and she scanned the kitchen for her mother. Piper pushed her chair out, got up and scooped her niece up, bringing her back to the table. "Where's momma?"

Piper brushed some hair out of Prestyn's face and tucked it behind her ear. "She's having a shower, sweetie. She'll be downstairs soon."

This answer seemed good enough for Prestyn. She nodded as she tried to stifle a yawn. She cuddled up to Piper, resting her head on her aunt's chest.

"Are you tired, angel?" Paige asked. Prestyn nodded, while rubbing her eyes. "Do you want to have a nap?"

Prestyn shook her head rapidly. "No! No, no, no!"

Piper hugged her niece tight. "Okay, okay, shh…" She soothed. "Just cuddle up to me and we can sit like this okay?" She began rocking back and forth slowly, stroking her hair.

Blue and white lights filled the room and Leo emerged from them.

"How'd it go?" Paige asked.

Noting that Prestyn was in the room, he approached evasively. "We're good to go… Where's Phoebe?"

"She's in the shower." Leo nodded and took his seat at the table, looking worried. "What's wrong?"

Leo didn't say anything.

"I'll, uh, take this one into the lounge room with me… I think it's a bit uncomfortable for her anyway," Piper said, realizing that Prestyn was more than likely the reason for Leo's quietness. She got up, with Prestyn still in her arms and walked into the lounge room.

Paige watched them disappear. "Well?" She asked impatiently.

"Phoebe doesn't know what she is asking me to do. She doesn't understand that if it goes wrong, Prestyn will not remember the last five years of her life –"

"That's happened how many times Leo?" Paige countered.

Leo changed his question. "So what happens if ten years down the track something triggers her memory? It comes flooding back, there's no telling what she'll do – either to herself or to us."

"We'll go down that road if it happens. It's no use in driving yourself crazy thinking about it now… Besides, the last say is all on Phoebe; Prestyn _is_ Phoebe's daughter…"

"Yeah, but I _am_ your guys' White Lighter. So technically I have the last say," he countered.

"Don't bring the technicalities in on us, because if you want to get '_technical'_, Leo, you are our brother-in-law _as well_ as our White Lighter, and Phoebe will make that known to you in the harshest possible way. You're not going up against Phoebe as a witch, you're going up against Phoebe as a mother, and you will lose."

Leo knew Paige was right; he was beat.

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Piper rocked Prestyn back and forth on the rocking chair in the lounge room, humming a nursery rhyme, hoping she would drift off into sleep. She knew that Prestyn had not slept in the three days that the nightmare had begun and she knew it was bound to catch up with her. Prestyn, about as stubborn as her mother, refused to let that happen, and she fought her tiredness with everything she had. Her eyes would close and, instantly, she would snap them back open again.

"Auntie Piper?" Prestyn squeaked.

"Mm-hmm…" Piper couldn't help but notice the troubled look on her face.

Prestyn looked up into her aunt'sbrown eyes; her ownhazel ones glossed over in tears. "The Bad Man… He said he was my daddy… Is he my daddy auntie Piper? I hope he isn't because he is mean and mommy said I would like my daddy and I didn't like him…" Silent tears fell down her cheeks.

Piper stopped rocking and tried to think of an answer to provide for her niece. She silently thanked a higher being when she heard footsteps descend the stairs, followed by Phoebe's voice. "What are you doing in here?"

Prestyn's head snapped up upon her mother's voice. She scrambled out of Piper's grasp and ran straight for her mother, who picked her up and placed her on her hip.

Piper stood up and walked over to her sister, who was standing on the last step. "Prestyn came into the kitchen looking for you, and then Leo orbed in –" Piper didn't get to finish her sentence as Phoebe gave Prestyn back to Piper and walked into the kitchen. Piper quickly followed.

"Did you get it?" Phoebe asked.

Leo shifted, uncomfortably,in his seat. "Yeah."

Phoebe nodded, and then turned back to her daughter and her sister. "Come on baby," she grunted as shetook Prestynfrom Piperand placed her on her hip. "Let's get you cleaned up as well." Without so much as a glance toward her sisters or Leo, she headed up the stairs.

The kitchen fell quiet again; no one knew what to say, and if they did know what to say, no one knew how to say it. Paige looked at Piper, who looked at Leo, who looked at Paige, and when they were caught out in their staring, they quickly shifted their gaze.

Paige sighed, breaking the silence. "This is gonna mess Phoebe up…"

"No it won't," Leo objected, before Piper could agree with Paige. Both Piper and Paige looked at him in confusion. "Because she is going to have her sisters to help her move forward from this disaster." Piper and Paige looked at each other and then back at Leo waiting for him to continue. "She's going to need all the support she can get because she is going to be break down, and you two are going to need to be there for her…"

"And then she won't be so messed in the time to come," Piper finished. "It'll just be another memory."

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	19. 17: Good night, Sleep tight

**Guess who's back... Back again... Chuffy's back... Tell a friend!**

**I am so so so sorry that this took so long - writer's block sucks to the max!**

**However, i want to thank everyone who has read and _reviewed_ this story. Especially you, KJ! You rock, girl! Thanks for your great advice and help on this, and for listening to me rant about my story almost every time we were on the net.**

**Yes... the 'thanks' that can only mean one thing... the end is near my friends. This is the last chapter of my "Gift of Innocence" story... Tear...**

**So for the last time guys, the only thing i own of this story is the plot and the character of Prestyn. I don't own any lyrics, or poems. And the 'Sunshine song' (as Prestyn refers to it) does not belong to me either... **

**For the last time, guys - read, review and enjoy :)**

**x3x.Ky.x3x**

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_**Chapter seventeen**_

Phoebe lay on her bed assuming the fetal position, hugging a pillow tight. Phoebe couldn't get her mind around the events of the past three days. She had come so close to losing her daughter that she could almost feel death's shadow lingering. Leo had, successfully and reluctantly, dusted Prestyn with no problems. It was quite simple and quite quick.

As Phoebe was finishing getting Prestyn dressed, she called for Leo. He poured the sparkly dust into the palm of his hand and, hesitantly, blew it into her face, causing her to sneeze quite a few times in a row. He had managed to convince Prestyn that within the three days that had passed she was in bed, sick with a cold, and she _wasn't_ kidnapped by Cole 'The Bad Man', and she _didn't_ have a horrible dream in which Phoebe was killed. She had a cold and the past three days were filled with everyone giving their attention to Prestyn. The real test came when the inducing was over. Prestyn blinked a few times, looked around and saw Phoebe. A huge smile lit her face as she told her mother that she felt a lot better and that she didn't need to stay in her bed anymore. A wash of relief ran over Phoebe's body at the site of her daughter's sudden attitude change. In fact, Prestyn felt 'so much better' that she, Wyatt, Chris, and Leo were all down at the park. Phoebe had managed to sneak off into her bedroom somewhere between telling Prestyn to take her coat and Piper telling her boys to take their coats also.

Phoebe hugged herself tighter and drew in a shaky breath, stopping the tears, which had formed in her eyes, from falling. She jumped when she heard a knock on the door, but didn't turn around. She stayed on her side, looking out of the window blankly, not even taking in any of the day's features – not that there was much to take in. The sky was grey with even darker clouds that were threatening to split open and pour buckets. Mother Nature must have decided to take pity on Phoebe and placed a day to match her mood.

Footsteps sounded and made their way into her room. They shuffled and were out of sync with each other; more than one person was entering the room. Phoebe felt a soft, yet firm hand on her arm; and that was all it took. Her body erupted with the shakes, and sobs escaped her mouth. She couldn't stop herself. She hadn't wanted to take it like this, but it was oh so much for someone like her to bear.

She felt another hand on her hip, and those sobs turned into wails.

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Prestyn sat on the love seat in the conservatory with a teddy bear, and watched as Chris and Wyatt destroyed, yet, another block tower. _Chris and Wyatt didn't destroy the tower, silly!_ Prestyn chastised herself. _The mean dinosaur did! _She glared at the dinosaur, and got back to the teddy in her hands.

Leo watched from the entrance of the conservatory, observing the children... Prestyn mainly; but still observing their behavior. She was quiet. Prestyn, especially being Phoebe's daughter, just wasn't quiet. He made his way over to the youngest member of their ever-growing family. "Prestyn, honey, are you okay?"

Prestyn looked up at her uncle with her big hazel eyes. She smiled and nodded. "Yes." She returned her gaze to the teddy. "Teddy doesn't have a name," she remarked, absent-mindedly.

Knowing that it was best not to push, he played along. "She doesn't?"

"_He_ doesn't… Teddy's a boy because he has blue coveralls on," she stated, leaving no room for question.

Leo reached over and gently took the teddy out of her hand to look it… _him_… over. He looked at Prestyn with curiosity. "So what should we call him?"

"Cole," she stated. Her response was so quick and sharp that Leo could have sworn it was done on reflex. She was with him for so long, that she was bound to have known his name. Maybe she had called him by his name on more than one occasion? It came out too quick for there to have been any actual thought about it. She didn't seem scared by the submission of his name. Maybe it _was_ just a reflex. For his sake, he hoped it had been. It took everything he had not to show a reaction. _This_ was something he would keep from Phoebe.

He looked at the toy and looked back at Prestyn. "I don't think teddy likes that name, do you teddy?" Subtly, Leo made the bear shake its head, by grabbing its neck and twisting it from left to right. "What about…" Leo thought about it for a while. Who'd of thought that naming a stuffed toy could be so hard? "Um… how about…"

"Mikey!" She exclaimed with a toothy grin.

Leo looked at the bear, now known as Mikey. Mikey 'nodded' his head and Leo said, "I think he likes his new name." He made Mikey walk over to Prestyn and Prestyn grabbed him and hugged him close to her chest.

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"I tried to hold it… Hold it together," Phoebe hiccupped. "To be strong for… for… her…" She reached for the tissues that Paige was offering her and blew her nose.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige were now sitting in the middle of Phoebe's bed. Piper sitting next to Phoebe with an arm slung around her waist and Paige in front of her, giving Phoebe her undivided attention.

"Phoebe," Paige began tentatively. "You don't have to go through this alone…" She let the statement hang in the air.

Phoebe gulped down the next wave of tears, and said, "But it's not your guys' problem." She cringed inwardly at how horrible that sounded. Her sisters were here, trying to help her, and all she could do, was give them the brush off. She began to rectify her statement, but Piper got in before her.

"It isn't happening to us, Phoebe, but it doesn't mean that it isn't our problem…" Piper's voice was gentle, yet stern. "We're family, and we stick together through the good and the bad."

"Which means," Paige began, as she crawled over to sit on Phoebe's left side, and put her arm around her shoulders. "That while it isn't necessarily our problem… We're going to make it our problem anyway, and we're gonna help out all that we can." She tucked a loose strand of Phoebe's mocha colored hair behind her ear, and smiled.

Piper rolled her eyes. Paige was trying to help, that was true, but her attempt at humor at this point in time was highly inappropriate. She redirected. "You don't always have to be the strong one for Prestyn. I don't think she expects you to be –"

"But she expects me to be there… and I wasn't." A fresh wave of tears spilled over her cheeks.

"You were scared," Paige stated.

"And so was she!" Phoebe yelled. Piper and Paige jumped at the outburst. Phoebe took a deep breath. "So was she." She wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "I was scared, but that doesn't excuse me from abandoning her. I wasn't there throughout her entire ordeal. What kind of mother does that make me?"

"You didn't intentionally do it, Phoebe," Piper tired.

"But I did it." She looked down at her hands.

Annoyed that Phoebe was letting it go with ease, Paige decided to try a different approach. She nodded her head. "Yeah… You did it." Phoebe's head snapped to the left to look at Paige. "But she doesn't remember it. It happened, there's no denying that, Phoebe, but dwelling on it won't rewind time and make it disappear…"

Finally realizing where Paige was going with this, Piper continued on. "I think that the main thing you need to concentrate on right now is Prestyn. And she's home, and she's safe."

"And Cole is dead," Paige concluded.

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It was seven thirty that same night and Piper and Leo had just finished tucking both Wyatt and Chris in. Getting the boys in to bed that night was an easy task after having been up for nearly seventy-two hours straight. Prestyn, however, was the one having troubles. She wasn't tired. She didn't want to go to bed. Just five more minutes. Then the shimmering started. Phoebe knew she was beat once that started, so she relied on Paige.

A whole ten minutes passed before she orbed back into the living room. "The kid should be a lawyer!" She spat out. When everyone looked at her in part shock, part confusion, she elaborated her statement. "She said she'll go to sleep if she can sleep in your bed." She pointed at Phoebe.

Without a word, Phoebe started up the stairs and walked into her bedroom, where Prestyn was sitting in the middle of the bed, playing with Mikey and singing gibberish words to him.

"Hi," Phoebe greeted. She walked around the bed and sat up near the headboard, dragging Prestyn with her and sitting her on her lap.

"Hi Momma." She shoved the bear in her mother's face. "This is Mikey."

"Oh… Um… Hi, Mikey." Prestyn yawned. "Tired, sweetie?" Phoebe asked without missing the beat.

Rubbing her eyes and shaking her head, Prestyn denied it. "No." She stifled a second yawn, and Phoebe moved and placed Prestyn on the bed so that she was lying down and under the covers, with Mikey stuffed protectively under her arm. Phoebe propped herself up on her left elbow, with her legs dangling off the bed, stroking Prestyn's head and brushing strands of hair out of her face. "Sing to me, Momma…" she said drowsily.

Phoebe raised a brow. "What do you want me to sing, baby?"

Prestyn shrugged. Then her face lit up. "The Sunshine song."

"Okay, well, snuggle up." She helped Prestyn pull the covers up to her chin. "And close your eyes." Prestyn complied. Phoebe took a deep breath and began singing her daughter to sleep.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.

You make me happy, when skies are grey.

You never know dear, how much I love you.

So please don't take my sunshine away…

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.

You make me happy, when skies are grey.

You never know dear, how much I love you…"

She watched Prestyn as she sang, and saw that Prestyn's breathing had evened out and she had let go of Mikey. Phoebe slowly got up off the bed. She walked, quietly, to the door and opened it slowly, so as to not disrupt the sleeping form of Prestyn. She watched her sleeping for a few minutes. She looked up at the roof, looking to the Elders. "So _please_ don't take my sunshine away."


End file.
